The summit was facilitated by the Ekurhuleni Crime Intelligence Unit and attended by various groups including members of the public, the CPF and Metro police. It was noted that the lack of community participation was a contributing factor to the effectiveness of law enforcement entities.
Chairman of the CPF, Steven Johnstone said he picked up a lot of information from the summit. “There were a lot of comments and complaints with regards to reporting of cases. Residents must know that a crime not reported is a statistic not recorded,” said Johnstone. He said this was important as this affected law enforcement’s planning and the correlation of resources to the needs of the community.
On the day, most of the attendees were either members of the CPF or other local law enforcement agencies. “I am very disappointed with the turnout,” said Johnstone.
“We advertised on social media platforms and on the local radio station but still there are very few normal residents present here.”
Colonel Steven Moodley of the Midrand Police Station echoed Johnstone’s thoughts and said, “It seems to me there is apathy from our community, however, I am satisfied with the input from the attendees.”
Portia Nondumo, a resident of Midrand, was present at the summit and said she gained information that she wouldn’t have otherwise known. “I now know how the police operate,” said Nondumo. She said her children were recently victims of a crime and when she sought the help of the police she was disappointed with the manner in which the case was handled.
“After sharing my story on social media, I received a lot of responses from people with similar experiences,” she said.
“The colonel [Moodley] then contacted me and we had a meeting, only for me to find out that in the chaos, my daughter didn’t sign her statement which then delayed the whole process.”
Nondumo said after the procedures were explained to her, a docket was opened and the police were investigating the matter.
The ongoing issue of lack of manpower was again raised at the summit. Moodley said they were doing the best they could with what they have. “We recently received seven new student police officers who will be training with us, this is better than nothing,” he said.
