Community entities help create an instinctive respect and admiration for police.
Members of Honeydew police and the station’s Community Policing Forum (CPF) paid a friendly visit to a pre-school in Mostertboom Street on October 11. Happy Hearts Playschool opened their doors to the uniformed team headed by sector manager Warrant Officer Nicolas Makhura and civilian crime fighter, CPF Chairperson Jon Rosenberg.
The crime prevention team focused on reminding children not to speak to strangers and to never take sweets or any gifts from people they don’t know. The police car is an enigma at any age and children had the opportunity to play with the sirens and lights police use when duty calls. Making children comfortable with using the police as their first option for safety, the officers helped the children to memorise the all-important 1-0-1-1-1 number.
In return, the children of Happy Hearts sang a poem for the community protectors. Principal and owner of Happy Hearts Playschool, Laura Gollub, thanked the members for their efforts, saying,”I think it is a great community initiative. It is really nice for the kids to see real police officers. Some children are afraid of the police and things like this help to break that stigma”.