Linden police take a step in building a relationship with the youth
The project included students in grades 8 through 10, who were all assigned the same topic for the speech contest.
Jonathan van der Merwe, a Hoerskool Linden student, has been selected as a Junior Station Commander at the Linden Police Station. This comes after the Linden police organised a debate and invited schools from the surrounding communities as part of youth month to help with the development of the CPF youth desk and to elect junior commissioners.
Kind David School, King’s School Robin Hills, Concord College, Hoerskool Linden and Delta Park School were among the schools that participated in the speech contest.
The junior station commander project is part of the SAPS’s school safety policy. It aims to strengthen the relationship between SAPS and the community’s youngsters.
Jonathan said that he was not expecting to be chosen but he is proud and excited to be part of the team. “I’m very lucky. There were so many good speakers. I share my experience with bullying, and I spoke about substance abuse which is a big problem in my school.”
He added that he is looking forward to working with the people of the community.
Junior Commissioners selected at Linden police station are:
- Junior Station Commander: Jonathan van der Merwe
- Junior Detective Commander: Dilanae Lessingh
- Junior Support Services Commander: Rishi Tej Kondle
- Junior Visible Policing Commander: Eitan Klein
- Junior CPF chairperson : Joshua Rossouw
Assisting the CPF are:
- Gender-based: Omolemo Mokhatla
- Social crime prevention: Rendani Sadiki
- Social Initiative: Adelaide de Lange
According to Linden Station Commander Shaid Abdool, this effort is vital because it empowers youth and allows them to believe and have confidence in the police.
“This will give young people a chance to understand policing and the police to understand them. It also allows them to participate in crime prevention endeavours in communities and also to be able to report issues such as drug, substance, child abuse, bullying, cyberbullying and gender-based violence. All the issues that youth faces can be addressed and be attended to quickly.”
Each school was allowed a maximum of three candidates. The contenders had five minutes to deliver their speeches and three minutes to respond to questions from the panel.
Abdool explained that they were looking for learners with leadership qualities, confidence and a better understanding of what the topic was about. “We also looked at the first-timers. There were many of them that participate in these debates for the first time and it was encouraging. We also expanded and elected a Junior CPF Chairperson with their assistance.”
“We hope to build a network where the youth have a footprint in the police station and the police have a footprint with the youth of our community who on daily basis face renewed and unique challenges and they have no way out, so we want to be there for them,” added Abdool.
Related Article:
Contestants talk about the importance of having a junior station commander
