CBW makes headway one case at a time

Community Safety MEC, Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya says 30 cases have been attended to since the formation of the Court Brief Watch (CBW) and the department’s projections indicate that another 60 cases will be attended to by the end of the year.

The CBW was launched earlier this year under the Secretariat of Police to ensure that the police do everything they can to ensure successful conviction of cases in court. Lerule-Ramakhanya says the launch was motivated by an outcry from communities on cases that vanish and never make it to court along with a lack of evidence from those that do. “The plan was put into place to change the manner in which cases are responded to. We want a more reactive unit to be formed to attend to crimes as they happen which will ensure that the evidence is substantial enough for prosecution. The police secretariat will be attending to these cases through district structures and local police stations.”

Provincial Police Commissioner Lt Genl, Thembi Hadebe says a number of extensive meetings were held with various structures in her department to identify areas that can be improved on to ensure that service is delivered to the people efficiently.

She says the development and formation of Community Policing Forums (CPF) in rural areas is well underway as a way of educating the communities about the law and bringing them onboard to the fight against crime and as part of addressing some short comings within the department.

Some of the identified shortcomings include a gap in human resources which can be attributed to a lack of intake and recruitment to supplement those that have left the police force.

“Due to Covid-19 we lost some members of the department and we were unable to recruit, but we have been making use of our reservists to supplement the gap. We need to reinforce the presence of the police in our communities particularly those that have been problematic in the past. This will be part of the methods we will use to stabilise our communities.”