Crime in the Muizenberg precinct has drastically increased post-covid.
This was revealed at the Muizenberg Community Policing Forum’s (CPF) annual general meeting on Thursday evening 24 March.
Muizenberg police spokesperson Capt Stephen Knapp told the gathering that crime in all areas spiked in the last financial year.
Some issues police currently face include a lack of trust by the residents and a spike in gang violence and vigilantism.
“Crime in all areas between June 2021 and up to 2022 has drastically increased. During Covid-19 crime went down. All crimes across the board have increased with a drastic increase in theft and break-ins.”
Knapp added that the station receives about 600 complaints per month, via phone calls. The figure excludes in-person complaints. “Police have a 20-minute reaction time to incidents. It is something we need to work on. Tonight, for example, we only have one vehicle while we should have two.”
A huge concern is the current flare-up of gang violence, he added. “Gang warfare has flared up and there is a huge vigilantism issue in Vrygrond. Last week, a seven-year-old was shot in the head and a gangster was set alight.”
Knapp says police are focused on improving their partnerships with neighbourhood watches which was affected by covid. “Covid caused a slump for neighbourhood watches. Our focus this year is to re-invent neighbourhood watches.”
He also spoke about the lack of trust between residents and police. “Currently there is a lack of trust in police officers and a lack of informants. There is no excuse not to come forward with information.”
Knapp said the South African Police Services (SAPS) is working tirelessly to remove corrupt officers and to rebuild community trust. “The last two years we had a few warrant officers and constables arrested. I know there are corrupt police officers.
“We need to weed them out. The anti-corruption unit is looking into it. We need the community to help us. We do not tolerate corruption.”
He added that there is an “urgent need” for police reservists: “We have no reservists.”
Knapp further elaborated on a recruitment drive for the Community in Blue, a programme similar to a neighbourhood watch that is yet to be established in order to reduce crime in the area.“It is a good initiative and we should give it a try and see how it works. We are waiting for the budget to start the programme.”
Currently Muizenberg police have 119 staff members of which 92 are operational. The figure is down from last year’s 132.
CPF Exco member Linamandla Deliwe said it was hard for the CPF to run projects on very limited budgets.
“We want to engage in sustainable projects, but with an annual budget from the Department of Community Safety (DoCS) of only R5 000 it is not sufficient. We need support from the private sector and we need to fundraise. It is difficult to run any project without money.”
In the meeting a motion that CPF chair Frank Bokhorst and deputy Derick Muller swapped rolls due to ill health was accepted.
“I myself have been incapacitated by illness, not covid related, for most of the time since June last year and deputy chair Derick Muller has very capably served in my place,” said Bokhorst.
