Sector policing revival for Berea
Berea police invite residents and crime forums not affiliated to them to join their sector policing initiatives and partner against crime.
SECTOR policing or community policing as it is commonly known, will be revived in the Berea policing area after police noticed that many crime initiatives that have been established are not affiliated to SAP.
According to Berea Communications Officer, Lieutenant PN Naidoo, sector policing has been operational in the Berea precinct for more than a decade, however, it faces certain challenges where some sectors do not enjoy community support.
“Sector policing or community policing is essentially the Berea policing area broken up into smaller more manageable sectors to police,” he explained.
Sector policing is part of the Community Policing Forum, CPF and each sector is a sub-forum of the CPF body. The CPF is the main body made up of the five sectors, a chairman, vice chair and executive committee of community members as well as Berea Police Station Commissioner Col Kweyama and Vispol Commander Col Xulu and CPF/ Sector Co-ordinator Lt PN Naidoo.
“We want to renew community interest and get more buy in from the residents in the different sectors. It has come to our attention that there are many crime related forums operating in the various sectors which are not affiliated to the SAP Sector Forums or ultimately involved in CPFs,” said Naidoo.
Berea CPF chairman, Paul Antao, said that the trend where sub committees are formed was not always best when working in an isolated area. “It’s good to have your crime organisations and initiatives but the leaders of these committees should plug into the police structures as they ultimately need police support. Crimes occur because communication is bad and does not reach everyone in a particular area. We should be sharing information to safeguard everyone and ultimately be talking with everyone and finding solutions together with police,” he advised.
The sectors are broken into five specific areas within the precinct and each area is under the command of a sector manager who can be reached on 031 2771091.
Sector 1 is the Musgrave area within the border of Ridge, North Berea, Currie and Sydenham roads, with W/O D Naidoo as Sector Commander.
Sector 2 is the DUT area within the Berea (North), Old Dutch, Centenary, Sydenham and Currie Roads under the command of Sgt N Pillay.
Sector 3 is within the Sydenham, Ridge Currie, Argyle and Springfiled boardering roads under the command of Sgt C Dennis.
Sector 4 is within the Sydenham, Currie, Argyle, Windermere and Mitchell Crescent under command of W/O C Durand.-
Sector 5 is within the Argyle, Springfield, Windermere, Trematon and Ridge Roads under command of Sgt T James.
Lt PN Naidoo is the CPF and Sector co-ordinator and all enquiries to the sector managers can be directed through him on 079 696 3573.
Any and all emergencies must be reported to the police crime emergency line 1011, however Naidoo advised residents to ensure that they took down a reference number for the complaint in case of queries.
“Sector policing is important to get involved in because it is an initiative by all roleplayers interested in protecting the community and preventing crime. It is made up of councillors, Metro Police as well as the many security companies who monitor the area. It is concentrated and focused on your specific area with important crime information about what to be aware of and look out for.”
Naidoo said that councillors were also available to assist with environmental issues that could contribute to crime such as overgrown trees and vacant houses.
“United we stand with the community and together we can stamp out crime,” said Naidoo.
