NEIGHBOURHOOD Watch groups and CPF's should receive the necessary training to aid them in their duties in fighting crime. So says Grant Smith from the Montpelier Road Security Initiative in response to a newspaper article that appeared in a Roodepoort newspaper.
The article stated that the Honeydew SAPS and the National Community Policing Forum (CPF) Board had decided that all neighbourhood watch, residents' associations and block watch structures should fall within the relevant CPF station and sector structures with immediate effect. These structures and patrollers should be registered with the relevant police station in which they operate as well as be fingerprinted and checked for criminal records by SAPS. Further to this, these groups were required to be inducted and trained, which would be arranged by SAPS and the office of the MEC for Community Safety.
All theses structures would be required to register with the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) as service providers or security officers.
Smith said all people joining the CPF or neighbourhood watch groups should complete a form with the police to keep on record. He said only people who were registered would be allowed to vote for committee members and be a member, whether active (on the committee) or non-active.
“Our concern is that structures need to be registered with PSIRA and need training, but who covers these costs? Who covers the costs of members not being at work? The police are supposed to provide training for everyone involved in CPFs and neighbourhood watches, not only for the committee,” he said.
Smith said the MEC's department did provide training last year, but there should have been another training session since. “That's where the police fall down, and need to liaise with the MEC,” said Smith.
He said the training included legal aspects, which were important, arrest procedures, crime scene procedures, first aid and security procedures.
“We need to know what our rights are and what citizens' rights are, and what the correct procedures are to follow. If people are trained by the police, they know what to do and we can ensure we follow the correct procedures to make patrolling effective,” he said.
Speaking from experience of running the Montpelier Road Security Initiative, Smith said people in the community needed to be more involved.
“Residents need to have street captains who report to the sector captain in their areas. Formal structures must be in place and everyone on the street must be the eyes and ears so they can report strange vehicles and people in their streets,” he said.
Responding to queries by Berea Mail on what the police in Berea are doing to help train residents joining the security structures, Capt PN Naidoo from Berea SAPS said Sgt Trevor James was in the process of arranging a session where police would educate the public on how the CPF operates and how they could assist if they joined. “This will take place shortly and they will be informed. This will not be by PSIRA,” he said.
