The North West Provincial community policing board has called on police to increase effectiveness and efficiency of criminal investigations, target visible policing, address specify crimes and the fear of crime and improve the quality of service to victims of crime. These proposals were raised by the board during the second and the last day of the Bojanala District Crime Prevention Summit in Rustenburg on Tuesday morning.
In his presentation to the summit, Chairperson of the board, Leonard Brown said that partnership and cooperation with the police is more vital in fighting crime within communities and called on government and the business sector to support and encourage establishment of street committees.
Brown called on local government to join hands with crime prevention structures in fighting crime as it is a constitutional mandate. He also called for cooperation with other stakeholders in ensuring that local communities are safe and live in a crime free environment.
Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa’s Gert Grywagen in his presentation called the police to intensify policing in farming areas and further urged them to respond in time to farmer’s distress calls. The union suggested the establishment of farm watch, and creation of cross border cooperation with South African Police Service (SAPS).
Illegal hunting is among major concerns raised by the union following the spate of recent rhino pouching across the country and within the province.
In her opening keynote address to the summit, Provincial MEC for Human Settlements, Public Safety and Liaison, Ms Desbo Mohono had said that zero-tolerance crime prevention operations need to be sustained to disrupt criminal intentions through integrated strategies, improved coordination and implementation to ensure that farmers around Brits, who hate the scourge of farm attacks which were recently reduced by a significant -66,6% feel safer.
According to SAPS Commercial crime unit, bank card fraud experienced mostly in Rustenburg, Brits and Jouberton in the North West Provinceaccounts for 3,7 % of the national statistics . The summit was briefed on new scheming devises that are used by criminals to further card fraud at ATM’s and successes that police have scored in cracking syndicated involved in bank card fraud.
Bojanala District contributes 42% of the provincial contact crime, 46.5 % of the provincial property related crime and 65.7 % of the provincial car/truck hijacking, house robberies and business robberies commonly referred to as the Trio crimes.
Defined crime generators in Rustenburg, Brits and Mmakau clusters which include 23 policing precincts include but not limited to immediate financial gain, gross liquor and substance abuse, general moral decay, uncontrolled access to communal grazing fields, ignorance and negligence of owners.
The summit is expected to develop a programme of action integrating crime prevention strategies to be implemented in fighting crime within the Bojanala Platinum district as it comes to an end later this afternoon.
Enquiries:
Lesiba Moses Kgwele
Tel: 018 391 0420
Cell: 083 629 1987
E-mail: LKgwele@nwpg.gov.za
