By Mzukona Mantshontsho
With the high levels of crime in Cosmo City you would expect an aggressive Community Police Forum (CPF) to assist in curbing the crime.
Cosmo City continues to grow as a place of choice and as a community. That number has increased substantially over the years with backrooms being built, mostly in the RDP houses, now with the semi-financed houses and bonded ones. The recent developments and job opportunities in Cosmo City have created an influx into the area, which cannot be avoided.
“We can all agree that crime is high in Cosmo City and it is a cause for concern. We are here to plead with residents to work with the SAPS at the satellite office and the Honeydew office and the volunteer patrollers to reduce the crime levels,” said Warrant Officer Ramalatso, Social Crime co-ordinator at the Honeydew Police Station.
“With the rising numbers of backrooms, particularly in this extension, one would expect that landlords know the particulars of their tenants, but that is not the case – landlords don’t even know where their tenants work or where they are from, they only care about the rental money at month-end, where that rental money comes from is not known either, that is worrisome”.
“As residence, you need to know your neighbour, so that you can notice any untoward behaviour happening. The movement of residents until the early hours of the morning are dangerous and not helping the fight against crime,” he said.
“The turn-around time when a resident reports a crime should be 10 minutes, anything more than that, should be escalated to the Honeydew Police Station for intervention. There are only 15 liquor licensed outlets in Cosmo City, the community should help us close down the rest of the unlicensed outlets, to reduce the crimes that result from excessive alcohol and drug abuse,” said Colonel Botha, Head of the Alcohol and Drug Unit at the Honeydew Cluster.
“We are in negotiations for a proper Police Station in Cosmo City, this is a process as you may know, but we need an organised and functional Community Police Forum (CPF) to be the link between the SAPS and the community,’ he added.
That is when it became evident that we do not have a CPF in Cosmo City. We have block committees and volunteer patrollers – the role of the CPF being to coordinate the efforts of the patrollers and block committees for effectiveness of the SAPS.
The fact that we only have two patrol vans does not help the fight against crime.
Residents voice their concerns:
- Visibility of SAPS, perhaps containers that are closer to the residents would help to report immediately,
- The SAPS officials are not firm enough when crimes are reported, this defeats the purpose of reporting,
- The need for an official CPF that is representative of all the extensions is a must for Cosmo City,
- Residents need to know the contact numbers for the police,
- Each extension must have a task team, and
- There should be incentives for the CPF, the patrollers and block committees.
To report crime in Cosmo City, these are the numbers:
The satellite police station in extension 8: +27 11- 875 9941 or +27 11- 875 9940.
Honeydew South African Police Services: +27 11 801- 8613/4/5
Police sector vehicles in Cosmo City: +27 71 675 7104 / +27 71 675 7109.
(Always know your street address, with the nearest corner and extension in which you stay).
Let’s say NO to CRIME, we demand police visibility!
