Community Safety
[1] What is the murder statistics of the SAPS at Citrusdal for 2017 at the latest date for which information is available;
[2] whether there have been any (a) arrests and (b) convictions in these cases; if so, what are the relevant details; and
[3] how is his Department assisting the community to improve safety in the area?
The South African Police Service informed me as follows:
4. (1) Kindly note that the Crime Statistics as of 1 January 2017 have not been released yet by the Minister of Police.
(2)(a) Yes, 10 arrests
(b) All cases pending
The Department of Community Safety assists as follows:
[3] Currently, there are no accredited Neighbourhood Watch Structures in the area and the Department are facilitating a process with SAPS and the CPF to address this failing.
The Department subscribes to the view that good relations between communities and the police will improve safety and has thus trained the on the roles and responsibilities of CPFs in accordance with Section 18 of the South African Police Service Act, 68 of 1995. The Department has also provided training on its Expanded Partnership Programme (EPP) which is a funding model to support CPF activities that may contribute to a safer community. In February 2017 the Department conducted an oversight visit at Citrusdal Police Station using the Provincial Monitoring Tool. During the oversight visit the Department looked at, inter alia, the rendering of front end services, the availability of police vehicles, the absenteeism rate on the day as well as the condition of the police holding cells. No adverse findings were made during the oversight visit.
