It’s out with the old and in with the new for the Brakpan CPF.
A new executive committee for the local community policing forum was elected on Thursday evening, last week, during the organisation’s AGM.
The meeting took place at the Brakpan Police Station and the following members were elected:
• Chairperson: Walter Vorster
• Deputy chairperson: Mphikeleli Nkudha
• Secretary: Guavana Kruger
• Deputy secretary: Francis Roos
• Treasurer: Pieter Rossouw
• PRO: Abrie Beetge
Vorster, a Brakpan North resident, has been part of the CPF for four years.
He told the Herald he joined the organisation to make a difference in the fight against crime and to help the community.
“Part of my immediate plans as chairperson is to make people aware that we are there to help them and to get them to join in order to make Brakpan a safer place for everyone,” he said.
Asked how he plans to tackle some of the misconceptions surrounding the CPF, such as the incorrect belief that members are allowed to make arrests, Vorster explained that the organisation is simply the eyes and ears of the police.
“We are there to help them so that they can do their jobs more easily, so that they can catch these guys who are breaking in and selling drugs and put them behind bars, and get them out of our society,” he said.
The new chairperson is a family man – he is married to Aneldi and they have three sons, Christo (10), Stiaan (4) and Ruan (2).
He works as a product specialist at an equipment company and enjoys motor racing and fishing when he’s not involved in the fight against crime.
Residents who would like to join the CPF can contact Vorster on 083 258 7075, or can visit www.policeboard.org for more information.
The Brakpan CPF has about 850 members throughout the town.
• What you need to know about the CPF
The forum fulfils a vital role in society, in assisting law enforcement officials in the fight against crime, and exists in terms of Section 18 of the SAPS Act, 1995.
The CPF falls under this SAPS Act and is an integral part of sector policing.
This legislated act recognises the CPF as the only recognised consultative forum designed to permit communities to make their policing concerns known to the police.
The Community Policing Forum has a constitution dictating rules, laws and effective structures, and is not a neighbourhood watch consisting of community members with no voice.
The CPFs are consultative forums, designed to permit communities to make their policing concerns known to the police and to provide a vehicle for holding the police accountable to them.
• What becoming a member of a CPF entails
There is a misconception that joining the CPF means that you will be expected to patrol streets late at night.
The CPF is more than just people who patrol the streets, so it will not be expected of you to be involved with the forum on an operational level once you have joined, although it would be advantageous if you could.
You could opt to assist victims of crime, assist with fund-raising and promote the organisation, or join any of its many other portfolios.
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