THE Amanzimtoti community police forum (ACPF) and its chairperson, Merlene Matthew, won the coveted CPF of the Year title at the SAPS Annual National Excellence Awards held in Durban recently.

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This is the ACPF’s fourth win. They previously won the title at the SAPS KZN Provincial Excellence Awards, as well as the CPF of the Year award at both the KZN Provincial Visible Policing Excellence Awards ceremony and the SAPS eThekwini District Excellence Awards ceremony in September last year.

Gary Kelly, deputy chairperson of the ACPF, said, “ACPF has made significant progress in strengthening the relationships among the community.”

Reflecting on the significance of the award and her hard work, Matthew said that the ACPF was successful because they are humble, respectful and because the rule of law always takes precedence.

“Collaboration is one of the reasons for our success. We don’t criticise our law enforcement publicly, but rather deal with issues constructively and privately and we strive to find solutions together. We promote social cohesion and strive to create a united town that sees our diversity as an asset,” said Matthew.

She added that the ACPF understands that each area is unique and requires different approaches to addressing crime. Therefore, they strive to implement common problem-solving identification. “Which means listening to local voices for a local solution,” she said.

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