Bellair SAPS fully support 16 days campaign

BELLAIR SAPS ushered in this year’s 16 Days of Activism Campaign on Friday, 25 November, where station commander, Lt-Col Bongi Mkhize, lit a candle in the Community Service Centre at the station. The Bellair based police said they fully support this initiative beyond the allocated three-week period. Running until Tuesday, 10 December, this year’s theme is Count on Me – together we move South Africa forward.

The 16-day programme was initiated with a talk and pamphlet distribution at the Old Field Centre at TAFTA to senior citizens. “SAPS Bellair supports the victims of abuse be it women and children on a daily basis with a fully functional victim friendly room, supported by a child welfare social worker every Tuesday morning. SAPS Bellair’s main focus this year was recognising the signs that you are in an abusive situation. The first steps to being free from abuse is by recognising that you are in an abusive situation and or relationship. Things such as dominance, humiliation, isolation, intimidation, threats are always tell-tale signs,” said communications officer, W/O Prakash Kumar.

He said that threats are the most common signs that one is being abused and that the abuser uses threats to keep their partners from leaving them. W/O Kumar also explained the different kinds of abuses. “There are different kinds of abuse such as sexual, physical, emotional and economical. Our station commander has an open door policy and is supported by the staff, she is available to assist the public when they are in need of help,” he added.