Greenwood Park CPF sub-forum fight back against crime
The forum has joined forces with various roleplayers in order to address spike in theft incidents.
‘A COLLABORATIVE effort is what’s needed when it comes to fighting crime’.
This was put into effect last week as members the Greenwood Park Community Policing Forum (CPF) Sub-Forum 5 and the Glen hills Neighbourhood Watch teamed up with the Greater Together Foundation (GTF) and the Paw-Paw Foundation, alongside several security companies and the Greenwood Park SAPS, help apprehend a suspect involved in an attempted burglary.
According to the chairperson of the sub-forum Mondli Mchunu, the suspect was found deep in the bushes alongside Orthman Road with several stolen items in his possession.
“It started when a resident on Orthman Road noticed his pipes had been tampered with. When he investigated, he found his microwave had been taken from the property, left next to his gate, and covered in a brown jacket. He opened a case at the Greenwood Park police station, and later that same evening, the same suspect returned and was spotted by alert neighbours.
“He fled the scene once spotted and disappeared into the thick bushes that border the road. We then rallied various role-players, and we entered the bush with the assistance of Charles Matthews of the Paw-Paw Foundation with his Dutch shepherd, Koda, who tracked the suspect. We also had GTF’s drone department assisting the ground teams in their search for the suspect. In the process of the arrest, we also came across various illegal structures, around seven of them set up in the thicket,” he said.
Mchunu said he would like to see more collaboration and operations like this to stop crime from spiraling out of control.
“In this area, many of the incidents have been copper-pipe theft, house burglaries, and petty-crime related. Luckily, we have had no major incidents, however, we cannot allow our guard to be down. Our focus is to be visible and push the criminal elements out of the area. To do this, we need support and input from the community.
“This success highlighted the importance of working together, especially as crime is an ever-changing landscape. We would welcome more community members joining our patrols and donating resources like flashlights. Now, we have 36 patrollers who give up their time to help keep an eye out for criminals, but we would love for that number to be higher,” he said.
