The West Village Sub Sector 5 Community Police Forum (CPF) needs sponsors and extra patrollers to help them conduct their duties effortlessly.
Public relations officer Elize du Plessis said they are the eyes and ears of the police within their community.
“Patrollers are not paid for their services and the time they offer to ensure that the public receives the necessary assistance when they need it the most. We have a CPF cellphone, where members can call us when they need assistance whether it is medical, fire or crime-related because we work closely with police, fire, and emergency services,” Elize elaborated.
She added that patrollers receive scene management training from fire, traffic, and emergency medical services. This allows them to know how to correctly handle an accident scene, for example, where to put out cones, direct traffic, where vehicles should park, and how to give feedback when the emergency department arrives.
They can give out how many patients are injured and the description of the injuries. The patrollers respond to the calls, assess the complaints, and then contact the necessary service required for that scene.
Although the CPF proves to be helpful to their community, they are facing some challenges in successfully carrying out their jobs. Among others, Elize mentioned they need flashlights, two-way radios, reflective jackets that state the community in blue, sponsors, and additional patrollers.
She also noted that the CPF currently has two patrollers who work during the day as other patrollers have other jobs and can only fully assist at night.
The CPF holds a community meeting once a month where the issues facing the community and the feedback on how many scenes the CPF attended are given, the public is also welcome to voice their concerns in the presence of the police sector manager. Community members are urged to report all incidents to the controller as the Chairman has a monthly meeting with police where stats are given like how many burglaries, missing children or murder incidences took place within the West Village.
“If the community does not inform the controller then we can not give correct stats to the police and it then seems as if there are no problems within West Village,” Elize concluded.
