Durban - AS ONE of the ways to deter crime in the area, the Malvern Community Police Forum plans to have all of its roads covered by continuing to create neighbourhood watches.
This comes after the CPF formed the Saints Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) on Sunday which brought the total of neighbourhood watches in its policing precinct to 11.
CPF chairperson Kevin Pillay said he knew community patrolling had many benefits, including that it was a deterrent to crime and that it did curb crime, to a degree.
“That’s why the executive committee of Malvern CPF decided to engage with the community.
“On Sunday, we had an online Zoom meeting where we put in an interim committee that will administer the Saints NHW for the next few months until we have elections next year,” said Pillay.
“Since we took over in September, we put the Malvern CPF policing precinct on a map and mapped where the current NHWs were, and wherever there was a gap, we started engaging with those people to fill those voids.”
He hoped in the next few weeks they would have formed yet another neighbourhood watch around the Malvern library.
They have more than 140 patrollers at present.
Once they set up more NHWs, they will recruit more.
Saints NHW spokesperson John Buckley said the neighbourhood watch consisted of community volunteers who shared concerns relating to escalating crime in the area.
They were like-minded individuals who recognised the need for community policing and assisted by being the eyes and ears on the ground. Their role was purely a reporting one, and was their way of giving back, he said.
The community elected six interim executive committee members.
Buckley said their boundaries ran from Eldridge Road on the eastern border up to Main Road, heading west and turning north into Clark Road, running parallel with the M7 highway.
“Like most areas in the country, we’ve noticed an increase in crimes like trespassing, theft from motor vehicles, theft of motor vehicles, home invasions and house break-ins,” he said.
He said the name Saints was proposed by the Malvern CPF. It just stuck and they like it.
“The success of our efforts relies on community participation and we welcome anyone within our borders to join. We appeal to anyone who’d like to assist our growing team of dedicated patrollers to contact us.”
Buckley is at 073 525 6855.
Daily News