Crime forums: Symbiotic community-police relationship more effective

South Africa has seen an increase in violent crime in 2022-23, and while it seems like law enforcement is failing in both crime prevention and detection, experts have suggested that police-community partnerships could reduce crime in cities such as Johannesburg.

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Police-community partnership

According to a study by the University of Pretoria (UP), a police-community partnership closes the gap between the police and community by establishing a working relationship and deep engagement between the two.

Studies had previously shown communities have lost trust in the South African Police Service (Saps). Just 31% of South Africans felt “mostly safe” or “completely safe”, while 37% felt “barely safe” (22%) or “not safe at all”.

The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) confirmed South Africans had low and declining trust and confidence in the police, which impeded efforts to reduce crime, deliver quality services and lay the foundation for economic growth.

According to a new ISS report, “police can regain public confidence by actively listening to citizens and prioritising neutrality and respect in every police-public encounter”, the institute’s Dr Andrew Faull said.

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Police can make SA safe

“Police can make South Africa safe, but only if they know when, where, how and around whom the most serious harms occur.

“This requires not only that victims report incidents to police, but that communities, civil society and the private sector support and share as much information with the police as possible. This is only feasible when people trust the police.”

Dr Mary Mangai, a lecturer at UP’s school of public management and administration, said the only way to increase the public trust in Saps is to have communities share responsibilities with the police, such as street patrol and guarding private and public properties.

“Our research on community policing addresses one of South Africa’s most pressing societal concerns: the security and safety of lives and properties,” she said.

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Neighbourhood security

“In order to improve neighbourhood security, CPFs [community police forums] should be better supported by the Saps.

“Infiltration by criminals should be prevented, and structures should be well funded. This should include keeping accurate and centralised data on CPF activities at police stations, if possible.”

Mangai said the research shows that stronger, well-resourced, more effective CPFs can make a significant impact in reducing crime.

Study co-author and professor Natasja Holtzhausen said the role of society as an active participant in taking agency was addressed in the context of co-production.

Communities were affected by crimes of all types, including murder, sexual offences, assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, common assault, common robbery, robbery with aggravating circumstances and hijacking. “

A community partnership could mitigate these challenges by, for example, asking businesses to donate resources to the police and, since the police share resources with communities – such as trailers and caravans for street patrollers – getting community members to volunteer to increase police manpower is another option,” she added.

Information

• According to Police Minister Bheki Cele, in May, between January and March this year, 6 289 people lost their lives in SA due to violent acts involving firearms, knives, sharp and blunt instruments, stones, and even bare hands.
• As per the crime stats, this is a 3.4% increase when compared to the same period last year.
• Provinces most affected were KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape and Gauteng.

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“Police could also make use of drones to monitor settlements where houses are closely built together.” She said a strong CPF would increase trust because “some community members do not reveal any information regarding neighbourhood criminal activities due to fear of being killed and lack of trust in the police”.

“Communities should be taught the essence of crime reporting and encouraged to share with the police any information on safety threats,” she added.

“The police should embark on community-building programmes to restore the community’s faith and trust in the police.”

Meanwhile, some of these suggestions were also raised by Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, who said in his first state of the province address that more than R700 million would be spent in the next few months on several projects, including safety and security.

He said about 400 new cars would be handed to the province’s law enforcement agencies, while 180 drones would be added to fight crime in areas unreachable by the police. – reitumetsem@citizen.co.za