The Din-Al-View CPF is warning residents that housebreakings are on the increase.
“Most of the housebreakings take place during the day; we need to be vigilant and notice what is happening around us all the time,” said Jane Dijkman, public relations officer for the Din-Al View CPF.
“On its own, the community has very little hope of stopping crime.
“The local police have a slightly better chance due to their training and experience, but their resources are limited.”
Dijkman added that combating crime requires an effective partnership between the community and the police.
The key word is “effective”.
The South African Constitution states that each SAPS station commander is required to facilitate the establishment of a Community Policing Forum (CPF).
The police will provide a better service if the community adopts a proactive policy of working with them.
Not as a bunch of risk taking untrained vigilantes, but rather as a coordinated network of “eyes and ears”, providing the information for the police to be efficient at what they are trained to do.
“Imagine how much more effective the police would be if they could be in 10 or more places simultaneously?
“That would be what we know as visible policing.
“With a combination of community effort and existing police resources we are close to resolving the problem,” Dijkman said.
So, how is this done?
The police need as many eyes and ears as they can get; a CPF with 50 members is far less effective than a CPF with 3 000 members spilling into multiple sub-forums.
All of those people who are either victims of crime, or don’t want to be, should put a little time and energy into their CPF by forwarding intelligence to the police.
Things you can do:
1. Attend your CPF meeting and bring your neighbours with you.
2. Save all the relevant emergency numbers on your cellphone, especially the SAPS sector vehicle cellphone numbers (071 675 6862 and 071 675 6863) and the number of your local police station (011 871-5000).
3. Report anything suspicious to the SAPS sector patrollers, such as:
a. Suspicious vehicles (take note of make, colour and plates).
b. Pedestrians with heavily laden bags (make note of clothing, build).
c. Any form of suspicious after-hours activity.
d. Crimes which suggest complicity of security companies.
e. Make a note of the serial number of all expensive electronic equipment which could be stolen, so it can be traced; without this pawn shops and dealers in stolen goods cannot be arrested.
f. The number of people active in the CPF must grow.
If you have 30 000 residents in your area, you want 3 000 members of your CPF.
Those eyes and ears will feed the police with all the intelligence they need to stop crime in its tracks.
Other articles you may be interested in:
Home invasions on the increase in the Din-Al-View area
Housebreakings on the increase in Din-Al-View area
