Relations between the Milnerton Community Police Forum and SAPS have hit the skids. The CPF chairperson has quit, citing a poor working relationship with the station commander, Brigadier Marius Stander.
The CPF is an important avenue for residents to air their grievances to the cops. In turn, SAPS has extra eyes and ears in communities which are often critical and not very trusting of the men and women in uniform.
Hopefully, the tide will turn for Milnerton CPF as better understanding between the various role-players could translate to better crime fighting – exactly what communities want.
Meanwhile, residents have until next week to comment on a draft proposal to change the way CPFs are governed.
The Civilian Secretariat for Police Service Draft Policy on Community Police Forums (CPFS) will move the governance of the forums from SAPS to a civilian secretariat, whose role will be to:
Ensure the proper establishment and alignment of CPFs at police station level.
Facilitate the training of CPFs.
Monitor and report on the functioning of CPFs to the civilian secretariat twice a year.
Fund CPFs.
Facilitate and mediate any relationship challenges between SAPS and CPFs.
Facilitate the election process of CPFs in line with policy directives around criteria, eligibility and composition of CPFs.
Provide administrative support to CPFs at meetings.
Residents can send their comments to Bilkis.Omar@csp.gov.za by Friday September 15.
