The Department of Human Settlements, Public Safety and Liaison say that it has declared war on criminals especially in all areas where crime was identified to be on the high. Areas such as Rustenburg and Madibeng are some of the municipalities that the Department has planned to prioritize in implementing its crime combating strategies. The Department announced this during the recent launch of the Madibeng Local Municipality’s Community Safety Forum.
“According to the Chief Director in the Public Safety branch of the Department Mr Orabile Mocwaledi, fighting crime is one of the key priorities of government, as outlined on the National Development Plan’s Outcome 3” said Simon Mmope.
Oarabile Mocwaledi said that the South Africa Police Service should work together with other government departments and communities, Security and Criminal Justice clusters and other arms of government. He said that by being united in the fight against crime, more can be achieved.
Mocwaledi further urged all organizations, government Departments, communities and other stakeholders to be involved, not only in determining police priorities in their area, but also in identifying the crime prevention needs. He said that, crime levels are perpetuated by a range of economic, social and political factors, crime prevention needs would require a multi-disciplinary, integrated approach.
The passing of the 1995 Police Service Act required the formation of community police forums (CPFs) at all police stations.
“The final evaluation of the project highlighted the lack of formal interaction between CPFs and other criminal justice agencies (such as the courts and prisons) as well as government departments concerned with welfare, education and local government” he said.
Therefore the CSF concept tackles the deficiencies of community policing forums by approaching the security challenge from a developmental perspective.
This involves bringing together those role-players responsible for criminal justice and services that, correctly targeted, could assist in preventing crime.
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