The Norwood Community Policing Forum held its monthly annual general meeting at Melrose Arch on 1 March.
The meeting invited members from the four sectors in the Norwood precinct to chat with local law enforcement officers and to strengthen the relationship between residents and police.
Chairperson of the forum, Wandile Yani, said he was extremely happy to see new faces at the meeting and explained the role of the forum, describing them as an oversight structure and not the police.
One speaker at the meeting was deputy cluster commander of Johannesburg East, Brigadier Govindsamy Mariemuthoo who began his presentation by supporting community participation and said, “Yes, criticise the police. If we cannot do our work, we must go home. When you go home, you must feel safe. You should get involved in your local community. The police service cannot function in isolation.”
Mariemuthoo continued to present information about primary crime reported to the Norwood Police Station adding that the primary crime was theft of motor vehicles.
Another speaker at the meeting was Mzamo Mathe, chief prosecutor at the Hillbrow Magistrates’ Court, who gave attendees a rundown about the court and justice systems’ problem with the lack of community support. Mathe said the reason why they are unable to prosecute so many cases was because of witnesses’ inability to cooperate with the police.
“The criminals live among us. Prosecutors and police need their community to help them to reclaim their streets,” he said.
Mathe said the prosecution of drug dealers in the Johannesburg East Cluster is a problem and that in many cases affidavits do not have the proper elements for convictions, or crime scenes were not properly managed.
“Another big problem is the movement of substances. Many [forensics] laboratories are not [close by] so when they are moved from the police station or the court they can be tampered with or mishandled. Many criminals sneak off on a technicality,” said Mathe.
He called on the community for greater support and cooperation on this matter to help successfully convict criminals.
Read: Norwood CPF invites residents to induction meeting on policies
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