Mixed reactions to drug bust by CPF
Residents opinions vary on a report by Community Policing Forum on a recent crime combatting initiative development.
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GLENVISTA – A tip-off led to a successful drug bust of 150 grams marijuana on February 13, as reported by the Glenvista Community Policing Forum patrollers.
The amount of marijuana found was enough for the Mondeor SAPS to charge the perpetrator, who is suspected to be the supplier to local narcotics dealers.
While many welcomed the news of the bust, not everyone following the Glenvista Community Policing Forum on Facebook were pleased with the confiscation of the bag of marijuana and the arrest, knocking their effort as a “waste of time and money on a drug less dangerous than alcohol”, while others argued the benefits of marijuana for cancer patients.
The forum’s administrators explained their position on the confiscation and handing over of the illegal drug to Mondeor SAPS, saying: “There is a good chance you (residents) were broken into due to drugs.
“Speaking at our (Glenvista Community Policing Forum) business crime forum recently, Lieutenant Colonel Mhlaba from Mondeor SAPS, informed us that according to SAPS provincial statistics and criminologists, the top driving force behind residential break-ins in this province are drug related. People break into houses and steal items they can sell quickly for cash to feed a drug habit. Surely you can see the logic in combatting the causes of crime and addressing the issue holistically? We will continue to arrest illegal drug users and dealers in this sector for this reason.”
Adding that although the forum respects people’s right to freedom of speech “in an open and democratic society”, and even though some of the points raised by all parties have merit, the CPF being at the forefront of the fight on crime in Glenvista, they are privy firsthand to the social cost of drug and liquor abuse and the correlation between drug addiction and crime.
“On this basis we will continue to take on illegal drug use and drug dealing. We have always advocated stronger enforcement of the liquor laws in this sector and continually ask Mondeor SAPS to ensure that liquor license holders observe license conditions.”
Mondeor SAPS continue to report on crime statistics of successful arrests, which include drug arrests in sectors 1, 2 and 3.