Organisation honours East police
“We were there to encourage and uplift the frontline workers.”
The Dare to Love Christian organization held a prayer session on Sunday at the Garsfontein police station.
“We are here to encourage and uplift frontline workers, their safety, their families and for the community that they serve,” said co-leader Herman Steynberg.
“These frontline workers are doing 12-hour shifts, seeing the bad side of life and that sometimes can harden your heart.
“So we were there to uplift them spiritually.”
Steynberg said the group handed out Bibles and honour badges to the police.
He said the police welcomed them to the station where they could pray with them.
The group was also allowed to reach out to an offender who was prayed for and given a Bible.
“He gave his life to Jesus right there,” he said.
“It’s about changing the mindset that the world owes me something, to I owe the world something and we start serving and looking out for one another.”
He said there was a need for social cohesion in helping combat crime and all that depend on all institutions within society.
“If we are connected to one another and we break this separation of different classes by lending a helping hand when I see that a brother is falling.
“We are dependent on each other.”
The group also visited various other police stations such as the Lyttelton police station and the Pretoria West police station.
Steynberg said the organisation also visited correctional facilities where they encouraged offenders to change their lives to avoid them committing the same crimes.
“There is a gap that we have seen, that police work hard on catching the criminals, but the criminals don’t actually go through the process of being corrected,” he said.
“It’s important that they do not return to the streets. We also help them with entrepreneurship and other skills that can help them sustain themselves once they are out.”
He challenged members of the community to start adopting police stations, correctional facilities and hospitals.
“Work through the CPF and give your time to the police,” he said.
“Let there be an open relationship, walk in there and pray with them, even if it’s just being kind and taking them a cool drink.”
The visit was welcomed by station commander Colonel Solomons.
“Prayer at Garsfontein is not a new thing. In fact, various church leaders from different denominations make turns during the morning parades at the station to open the day with scripture reading and a motivational message,” said the station’s spokesperson Warrant Officer Duane Lightfoot.
“This is in line with the police’s Divine Intervention project.”
Lightfoot said any initiative from the community was always welcomed by the Garsfontein police as long as it can help combat crime and was in line with regulations.
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