Following an intense public meeting on 13 April, the Norwood Community Policing Forum (CPF) has been urged by residents to take charge.
The meeting at the Norwood Police Station saw the attendance of various stakeholders including members of the South African Police Service, the Johannesburg Metro Police Department and local councillors.
Former chairperson of the Norwood CPF, Duncan Barker, lashed out at the current CPF executive board and urged them to be more active and to do away with excuses.
“We can’t accept any of your excuses and you need to be proactive. In the previous CPF, we were only two members but we made it work. You can’t sit back and wait for things to happen,” said Barker.
Mbali Langeni, public relations officer of the Norwood CPF, said it has not been easy for them to run the forum as there are only four members and they face financial constraints.
“We have been having difficulties with resources and it has not been easy for us to print and type out agendas. We don’t have a bank account, we don’t have anything and we are just working from our pockets as volunteers of the CPF,” Langeni said.
Langeni also added that running the CPF with three members was not fair as it is supposed to be a committee of 10.
Warrant Officer Riaan Riekert, acting head of the Crime Information Management and Analyst Centre at Norwood Police Station, provided a crime report for the year. Riekert said crime had gone down by 10 percent compared to previous years, but common robbery and business burglaries increased in March.
Constable Malovehle of Norwood Police Station raised the issue of police not being able to deal with everything and asked the councillors and Metro police officers to assist in other areas.
