The Douglasdale Community Policing Forum (CPF) Sector 1 hosted a public meeting for the community in Northriding on 17 April to address various issues of crime in the area on 17 April.
Douglasdale police and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) were also present at the meeting to give updates on crime in various suburbs, as well as current statistics of days and times when crimes are more likely to take place.
Captain Leonard Celliers of the station gave statistics of areas including Olivedale, Douglasdale, Northriding, Jukskei Park, and Sharonlea. Weekend days and evenings were high target times for various crimes in the areas, with common assault, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and house robberies with firearms being the most common.
“The statistics given [are for] between 1 to 31 March this year. Of all the robberies where firearms were used, no shots were fired and there were no injuries,” he said.
He concluded that all crime needs to be reported by community members in order for suspects to be linked to other crimes they may have been involved in through evidence given.
Superintendent Joyce Moepye of the JMPD said there are issues that had been raised by community members, including displaced people and how they are been handled by the police. “The challenges we have encountered with [displaced people] is that a lot of them stay along riverbanks and do recycling. They are not willing to go to a shelter when we engage with them,” she said.
“We will normally chase them away at night, but they return to the area the next day. We have asked Pikitup if they can also clean up the area where vagrants are, but they cannot. We also want to get assistance from Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo to see what can be done.”
She also mentioned that homelessness with the displaced people is a matter for social development to handle as the JMPD cannot forcefully remove their belongings. This is a concern throughout the sector, and not only in Sector 1.
Chairperson of the CPF Sector 1, Franzois Oosthuizen said many points were raised at the meeting.
“A lot of things came out in the meeting which we can try and address as the CPF to get our sector safe again. We need to get our community safe again and reduce crime,” he said.
“I know because of Covid, crime has gone up because people have lost their work but we have to find a solution forward. One was not discussed today, and no one knows what one could be.”
