Residents invited to open up at Moot Coffee with a cop

The Moot SAPS recently hosted a “Coffee with a cop” gathering at Gezina Lifestyle Centre in Gezina.

Moot police spokesperson Duane Lightfoot said the campaign aimed to promote the relationship between community members and police.

“We need the community to come and talk to us freely and maybe a change of scenery might help them to be free.

“We also want to see if there are any issues that need urgent attention in our area,” he said.

Lightfoot said the station saw that it was necessary to ensure residents role-players were working extra hard to keep the Moot and surrounding areas safe.

“We have a good relationship with our residents, but having a coffee with a police officer will bring confidence to the community.

“Since it is Women’s Month, we stand firm against violence [against] women and children and we urge residents to report such incidents.”

Lightfoot said the Moot police station doesn’t receive domestic violence-related cases regularly, but it was still important to address.

“At the moment, violent cases are fairly quiet in our area and we want to keep it that way,” he said.

The awareness campaign drew different law enforcement agencies to the event, including the Moot SAPS, private security companies, Moot CPF, and the Gauteng GBV Desk Brigade.

They handed out pamphlets with relevant contact details for residents to call whenever they didn’t feel safe.

Nkhensani Makhubela from the Gauteng Department of Community Safety said it’s important to have such events because most women are scared to report their violent partner.

“This is going to help more women and children to come out and voice their concerns because nowadays, they no longer feel safe in the society we live in.

“Children are kidnapped daily and some of them are murdered and raped,” said Makhubela.

Poppy Mthombeni said gender-based violence applies to everyone, regardless of gender.

“Men are also abused but it is something people don’t talk about because the male gender is deemed as ‘monsters’.

“Let’s refrain from those kinds of statements and it doesn’t matter if you classify yourself as male or female, if you experience abuse, then report it,” she said.

Moot CPF chairperson Elsabe Van Staden said the forum is run by people who are passionate about keeping the community safe.

She said the CPF’s priority is to keep the community safe and assist police in any possible way.

“GBV is a huge problem in this country and I think since COVID-19 started and most people worked/work from home, it kept on escalating.

“To be in each other’s space 24 hours a day might create such problems and events like having a coffee with a cop will help spread the word,” said Van Staden.

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