Crime fighting in Pretoria now strengthened with technology
Pretoria utilises technology to strengthen crime fighting
Community police forums (CPF) in Pretoria, are connecting their communities in real-time with a new service app called ttrumpet.
The ttrumpet app is used to actively connect the CPFs across the country with various communities, by syndicating information to keep them and loved ones away from harm said ttrumpet director Charles Murray.
Braam Rossouw said within the Wierdabrug sector 3 CPF, they had settled in using ttrumpet and sector 2 of the Wierdabrug CPF had been introducing the app to their members.
Rossouw said sector 1 had not progressed much, but they were in the processes of registering and would soon be introducing it to the community.
Rossouw said they were in the process of loading people onto the app and would soon be offering a form of training to the various communities.
He said the challenge with most of these kinds of apps, was people who did not have smartphones. He said in the gist of things people would have to get up to speed with technological devices to keep up with relevant information in their communities, but the alternatives to this was a phone call, radio network and email to the CPF.
“The app has provided a lot of promise,” he said, adding that although he did not understand the app fully, what was introduced to him seemed good and was a more advanced form of communication.
A member of the police force in Pretoria North has advocated for the use of the app saying it has helped in decreasing the amount of crime in his sector.
Warrant Officer Stoffel Holtzhausen and liaison to the Pretoria North CPFs said the ttrumpet app was currently working nicely for him.
He said an example was that people without insurance would report a theft of a vehicle on ttrumpet but not to the police station, he said this would not give the police a record of that theft, because it was not reported to them. But ttrumpet worked as a source of information for him to track theft of vehicle hotspots in areas reported on the app.
He said about 600 to 800 members of the various CPF sectors in the Pretoria North region were currently subscribed to the app.
Holtzhausen said schools were also included on a channel to report criminal activity.
Thesigan Pillay spokesperson for the Pretoria West CPF, who is not currently on the app, said if ttrumpet was “better, efficient and overall user-friendly” they would consider switching to the app.
He said: “The Pretoria West CPF is always interested in ways to combat crime more efficiently.”
The ttrumpet app along with CPFs already covers over 700km2 in Pretoria.
The number of households using this service is rapidly growing as more security forums join the platform.
The app is called ttrumpet and aims to bridge the gap between communities and their use of technology to aid in the fight against crime.
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