The Gauteng Department of Community Safety conducted a crime awareness roadshow with the Douglasdale police in the informal settlements of Kya Sand and Msawawa.
The purpose of the roadshow was to create awareness and educate the community on issues of safety.
The Department of Community Safety placed their focus on house break-ins, robbery with a firearm, domestic violence, assault and substance abuse. These were identified as being the prevalent issues in the area.
A representative from the the department explained that they conducted roadshows like this in different communities around Johannesburg at least once a month to ensure that the community had a good relationship with the police, and also to ascertain whether the communities were satisfied with the service delivery from the police. Douglasdale police officers, Sergeant Nicholus Mokwena and Constable Petrus Kwalate, who is also the Sector 2 manager, handed out pamphlets and spoke to community members about joining safety structures in the area and setting up their own patrols.
They also encouraged residents to attend the station’s winter crime awareness day on 5 July where they will be informed about safety programmes in the area.
The Department of Community Safety asked residents in Kya Sand to speak out if they had any issues with the police or felt that the police were not protecting them sufficiently, however community members seemed to be generally satisfied, with the exception of one Kya Sand resident who felt that there needed to be more visible policing in the Pipeline informal settlement.
Constable Kwalate encouraged the community living within Sector 2, which includes the Kya Sand and Msawawa informal settlements to contact the patrol car should they ever be in danger or need help from the police.
Details: 071 676 7152/3.
