Brighton Beach puts the spotlight on crime prevention

Successful crime prevention efforts promote safer communities by enhancing the perception of safety and the attitudes and behaviours that help people feel safe. This requires the work of not only law enforcement but also the community. Hence the joint effort between the Brighton Beach police’s social crime prevention unit and the Bluff Community Policing Forum (CPF) Youth Desk, who are doing all they can to curb the concerning levels of crime within the Brighton Beach policing precinct.

Constable Samkelisiwe Buthelezi from the Brighton Beach police’s social crime prevention unit and chairperson of the CPF Youth Desk Charles Leaven shared with the Sun about the newly formed relationship between the two entities as well as their ongoing efforts to increase crime prevention and lower crime rates, in a plea to the Bluff community to assist them in this mission.

The social crime prevention unit mainly works with school children through education and community outreach programmes with the overarching goal of monitoring and preventing crime in order to have safer schools and responsible youth.

“We have several issues in our local schools. There is the selling and use of drugs and bullying. The bullying is not only limited between learners, but also towards teachers too. We recently had an incident where a teacher was assaulted and almost stabbed by a learner in class. The teach was fearful for her life and didn’t want to go back to class. The principal at the school wasn’t even aware that a member had come to me fearing for her life. The things you see on social media are happening right in our own community,” said Constable Samkelisiwe Buthelezi.

She also shared that a local high school girl was also attacked by some of her peers in the bathroom at her school. “Seeing the trauma experienced by that girl as well as her parents was very disheartening to see and deal with even as a police officer.”

As a young person himself, chairperson of the CPF Youth Desk Charles Leaven placed emphasis on the importance and relevance of having young people on board when it comes to fighting crime. “The youth are still active and more than able to help address the socio-economic issues directly related to crime in their communities.  Community crime prevention programs play a vital with regards to the ‘community style’ of police service by working with the people at the grassroots level through various programs. These types of programs heavily involve participating members of the community along with the police to achieve community and police oriented goals to improve the quality of life for all members of the community,” explained Leaven.

One of the main challenges faced by the team is getting people of various racial groups to sit on the youth desk as official members in order to better represent the entire community and its varying issues. “Community members need to understand that they can be part of the change provided that they inform us about what is happening out there in their neighbourhoods, reports or information on criminal activities and come on board with us on our crime prevention projects,” said Buthelezi.

Another issue standing in the way of efficient crime prevention is the lack of transportation available at Brighton Beach police station. “We struggle to carry out our work due to the lack of reliable transportation and vehicles available to us. Even Charles requires us to assist him with certain initiatives and gathering people for the youth desk but the issue of transportation poses a challenge, which we are hoping will improve with time as we prove the need and relevance for the youth desk to the station and our community,” she said. There is also a great need for volunteers and trained counsellors to assist at the station’s victim and trauma unit which has been newly cleaned and repainted.

“We want to be able to do our work efficiently just like other stations. We want to work for the betterment of our community. We want for when people come to us, they will know that we will be able to help them,” shared Buthelezi.

Buthelezi and Leaven urge members of the community to attend the upcoming CPF youth desk meeting scheduled to take place at the Brighton Beach police station boardroom on Tuesday, 23 July at 5.30pm, in order to play an active role in preventing crime.

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