Norwood CPF chair is hands-on in the community

The Norwood Community Police Forum (CPF)’s chairperson may be fairly new to the post but definitely not new to security and policing.

Wayne Preston, who was a policeman for many years, has also ventured into other entities which include private security and property management of which he is currently general manager in Melrose Arch.
In his service to the Norwood community, Preston started off in August 2019 as Norwood CPF Sector 1 chairperson. Last year, he was duly elected as chairman for the main CPF of 30 members currently.

Preston shared that the Norwood CPF has established Twilight Centre, a non-profit organisation in Hillbrow, where they have established an innovation hub to teach people how to earn an income through use of handcraft and selling. He added that they are busy planting their second innovation hub within the scope of their precinct.

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“We have also started Birdhaven Houghton Orchards and Melrose organisation which will focus on relocating recyclers who are still active in our parks. We are in talks with relevant entities regarding this process.”

The Community in Blue patrollers under the guidance of Angelo Kostoglou is another of the Norwood CPF’s establishments. Preston said Kostoglou and 13 of his members’ responsibilities consist of doing operations with the local and provincial police when required; conducting patrols after hours with their private vehicles targeting high risk areas as identified in stakeholders’ weekly meetings at the police station.

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“This is a voluntary service and we’re struggling with funding. The challenge is that funding from community members may be deemed as protection money and we want to steer away from that. We would like for people to voluntarily give money so that we can use it to serve the community.”

Preston explained some of their concerns and possible solutions. “We have also met with Operation Dudula and discussed a few matters of concern from the CPF perspective as well as their concerns related to the community. We understand the challenges the community is facing and feel that we can build a strong relationship with the community but need to ensure that our communities’ civil organisations’ actions and operations within the communities are lawful and don’t inflict on human rights. So we will find an above-board way to serve the community together.”

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He added that with Norwood Police Station Commander Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Mathe they launched the Security Forum where they will be forming stronger alliance with local security companies to serve their community better.

Preston concluded, “Should the community experience bad services or suspect any inconsistences occurring, they need to report immediately either anonymously to the CPF or to the station commander directly in his office.

Details: Norwood Community Police Forum 066 372 9287.

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