The Cleveland Community Policing Community Forum (CCPF) held a public meeting on March 17 to re-establish the Sector Three forum.
During the meeting, CCPF Sector Three forum’s interim chairman Mike Spadino told residents that the forum is solely a crime related forum.
“The forum previously collapsed as residents started to discuss service delivery issues during the meetings. Residents took the opportunity and discussed service delivery problems instead of crime. This is not where we will discuss service delivery issues,” said Spadino.
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“The only time when residents can raise service delivery issues is when they will be telling us about street lights which do not work or overgrown grass as it contributes to crime,” he said.
Spadino said residents should discuss service delivery issues with their ward councillors.
“We want a crime free area and we will do all we can to ensure that this happens. Our main goal is to combat and help the police fight crime,” said Spadino.
Residents expressed their concerns with regards to the high crime rate in Sector Three.
They said the biggest challenge is that the community is afraid to report perpetrators to the police.
“I hear several gunshots around my neighbourhood almost every night. Residents must come forward and report such incidents to the police,” said one resident.
Very few residents attended the meeting and there was no representative from the JMPD.
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CCPF chairperson Godfrey Mothibe said he was disappointed that only a few residents attended the meeting.
“Residents must attend the meeting and report crimes which happen in their neighborhoods,” he said.
Mothibe said all Sector Three meetings will revert back to the second Saturday of the month at Cleveland Police Station’s hall.
The next meeting will take place on April 14 at noon.
