Foot patrols keep criminals out of suburbs
Volunteers work with police and private security to make suburbs safer.
Every Thursday, without fail, members from the Southport Community Policing Forum (CPF) together with police, private security and municipal law enforcement officers, do a sweep through a suburb.
Most recently, they spent the morning on foot in Sunwich Port.
The large group consisted of members from Southport Saps, ADT Fidelity, Lazer Security and Ray Nkonyeni Municipality Law Enforcement.
The group was split into two teams – one group was led by John Irven, chairman of the Southport CPF and the other by Warrant Officer Vicky Latten, sector commander of Southport Sector 1.
The main focus was to search for illegal squatters in the bush along the beach, and identify places where people sit (often to drink or smoke).
They also check for any dangerous weapons.
The group had just set out that morning when they found a make-shift shack in the bush on the dunes.
Irven said not only was a knife found at the illegal spot, but what upsets him the most, is the amount of rubbish and litter left strewn everywhere in the Admiralty Reserve.
The shacks are handled the legal route by the municipality before they are demolished.
Volunteers from the conservancy then have to come in and clean up the mess left by the bush dwellers.
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