Some community policing forums overstep legal boundaries, say security experts

For neighbourhood watches to be effective, they should operate within the law – forming part of the community policing forums (CPFs), two leading security experts said on Monday.

Institute for Security Studies (ISS) analysts Dr Johan Burger and Gareth Newham comments followed the weekend call by KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Premier Sihle Zikalala for a stricter regulating of neighbourhood watches – a stance condemned by the DA.

DA MP Cilliers Brink who is party shadow minister for cooperative governance and traditional affairs, has described Zikalala to be “out of touch with the situation in his own province”.

Arguing that neighbourhood watches were “not the problem in KZN or any other province”, Brink said the structure protected communities when the South African Police Service (SAPS) was “missing in action”.

Said Brink: “The inability of SAPS and other law enforcement agencies to protect lives and businesses was clear as day.

“But here’s the most important point ignored by Premier Zikalala: neighbourhood watches are successful precisely because they are not controlled by the ANC government.

“The premier should withdraw his statement and focus on rebuilding his province – something he cannot do without the help and cooperation of communities.”

Said Burger: “There are CPFs across the country who sometimes overstep their legal boundaries as contained in the SAPS Act, in that they become involved in operational work.

“This includes the use and control of neighbourhood watches.

“I am aware of a few who also involve and pay private security companies for this purpose.

“This may be advantageous to the relevant communities in relation to safety and security but I am sceptical of its legality.”

Burger said many neighbourhood watches had no link to CPFs “and neither are they required by law to be so connected”.

“This means that there is very little if any control or oversight of such structures.

“This is a potentially dangerous situation because often members of neighbourhood watches have very little understanding of their legal powers and limitations – and the risks of acting unlawfully,” warned Burger.

He said KZN should follow the example of the Western Cape, which in 2013 implemented the Western Cape Community Safety Act – “with clear control mechanisms in relation to neighbourhood watches”.

“Often, neighbourhood watches develop out of an understanding that the police – even where they do operate effectively and efficiently – cannot be everywhere at all times,” said Burger.

Newham who is ISS head of governance, crime and justice, said: “Most of the neighbourhood watches are loose networks of people living in communities, patrolling areas – sometimes working with the community policing forums.

“The concern – as we saw during the outbreak of the public violence – was that they formed a racial enclave, doing racial profiling and not taking people of certain races into their neighbourhoods.

“That is not acceptable because it breaks down relationships within communities – causing racial conflict.

“What we should make sure is that those groups do not break the law by becoming vigilante groups, taking the law into their own hands.

“As seen in other communities, they tend not to report criminals to the police but punish them, themselves.

“We have a 1000 vigilante-related murders in SA each year – a good reason to regulate and monitor neighbourhood watches.”

– brians@citizen.co.za