A LONG convoy of police vehicles snaked its way through the streets of Soweto yesterday, pleading with residents to trust in their officers and to join hands to defeat crime in their communities.
Joined by the Gauteng department of community safety, Johannesburg metro police, Soweto's community policing forums (CPF), police appealed to residents to report criminal activities.
Soweto police spokesman Kay Makhubela said: "Recently there have been several cases of rape, murders, business, house and common robberies in our area.
"As police we cannot be at every corner but residents are there. We are appealing to them to cooperate with police and report criminal activities."
He was speaking to communities in Jabulani, Zondi, Zola and Tladi as part of a safety awareness campaign aimed at creating community awareness of criminal activities, including drug abuse, rape, child molestation and domestic violence.
Chairman of the Greater Jabulani Community Policing Forum and treasurer of the Moroka cluster, Buti Makhoba, said communities were "sick and tired of seeing criminals being arrested but the cases being withdrawn because there is no evidence".
"So what we do in our sectors is have patrollers, some of whom are informants who get paid a stipend," Makhoba said.
"When community members see or know of criminal activities in the area, they contact their CPF sector chairman and patrollers will do some investigations and find all the evidence, apprehend the people then call the police.
"The police usually fail to get evidence by the time they get to a crime scene because the criminals clean up or run away."
He said even those people who open cases and do not know what happened to the matters or why there had been no progress could approach their CPF patrollers and they would liaise with police or even prosecutors, as long as there was a case number.
Gauteng department of community safety spokesman Thapelo Moiloa said: "Every weekend it is a given fact that Soweto will have at least two rape incidents reported. There are about five business robberies and two house robberies every week here."
Community urged to work with police to fight crime
A LONG convoy of police vehicles snaked its way through the streets of Soweto yesterday, pleading with residents to trust in their officers and to join hands to defeat crime in their communities.
Joined by the Gauteng department of community safety, Johannesburg metro police, Soweto's community policing forums (CPF), police appealed to residents to report criminal activities.
Soweto police spokesman Kay Makhubela said: "Recently there have been several cases of rape, murders, business, house and common robberies in our area.
"As police we cannot be at every corner but residents are there. We are appealing to them to cooperate with police and report criminal activities."
He was speaking to communities in Jabulani, Zondi, Zola and Tladi as part of a safety awareness campaign aimed at creating community awareness of criminal activities, including drug abuse, rape, child molestation and domestic violence.
Chairman of the Greater Jabulani Community Policing Forum and treasurer of the Moroka cluster, Buti Makhoba, said communities were "sick and tired of seeing criminals being arrested but the cases being withdrawn because there is no evidence".
"So what we do in our sectors is have patrollers, some of whom are informants who get paid a stipend," Makhoba said.
"When community members see or know of criminal activities in the area, they contact their CPF sector chairman and patrollers will do some investigations and find all the evidence, apprehend the people then call the police.
"The police usually fail to get evidence by the time they get to a crime scene because the criminals clean up or run away."
He said even those people who open cases and do not know what happened to the matters or why there had been no progress could approach their CPF patrollers and they would liaise with police or even prosecutors, as long as there was a case number.
Gauteng department of community safety spokesman Thapelo Moiloa said: "Every weekend it is a given fact that Soweto will have at least two rape incidents reported. There are about five business robberies and two house robberies every week here."
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