AfriForum’s control room helps to curb crime
AfriForum’s control room in Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga attended to more than 235 incidents in May.
The purpose of the control room is to support AfriForum neighbourhood watches by ensuring that support and the necessary resources can be sent faster in case of an emergency.
Incidents that were attended to include among others 25 missing persons, a murder, four farm attacks and one ATM bombing, AfriForum said in a statement.
The AfriForum neighbourhood watches in these three provinces held more than a thousand patrols in May: 389 in Gauteng, 191 in Mpumalanga and 442 in Limpopo.
About 1 030 people participated in these patrols.
“The control room offers overarching support to AfriForum neighbourhood watches.
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Neighbourhood watch members on ground level focus more on tactical aspects – problems that are experienced and solutions to these problems – whereas the control room functions on a more operational level to inform emergency services of the problems,” explained Llewellynn Hemmens, AfriForum’s provincial safety coordinator for the northern region.
“A trend that increased significantly this month is vehicle theft. This meant that we had to adapt the patrols because these types of crime put a lot of pressure on state institutions with limited resources. We thank every member who sacrifices their time day after day to make a difference. AfriForum warns the public not to leave valuables in their vehicles and to ensure that they park their vehicles in a safe location,” Hemmens concluded.
To join AfriForum neighbourhood watch SMS your town’s name to 45353 (R1)
