AfriForum extends hand of cooperation to Bloemfontein SAPS
Only hours before AfriForum’s Community Safety Centre (CSC) in Bloemfontein is set to open this evening, the organisation’s division for Community Safety extended a hand of cooperation and support to the South African Police Service (SAPS) in the Mangaung Metro. In a letter sent to the Police in this Metro this morning, the civil rights organisation requested, among other things, a meeting with the SAPS leadership in the Metro to discuss potential areas of cooperation and how AfriForum’s resources can be integrated into existing crime prevention strategies in the Metro.
AfriForum’s offer of support to the SAPS aligns with the organisation’s broader mission to empower communities and support law enforcement as part of their mandate to protect citizens.
The opening of AfriForum’s CSC in Bloemfontein is aimed at giving further practical form to this mission and supporting existing safety initiatives undertaken by the AfriForum neighbourhood watches in the Metro.
This newly established centre is equipped with a control room manned 24 hours a day, dedicated incident officials and a coordinated communication network linking AfriForum’s neighbourhood watches, law enforcement agencies and role players in the private security industry. The initiative aims to bolster community safety and crime prevention measures in this Metro.
AfriForum, in its letter to the SAPS, highlighted the importance of cooperation between civil society and law enforcement agencies in the fight against crime, according to Jacques Broodryk, AfriForum’s Chief Spokesperson for Community Safety. “We hope to tackle crime prevention in collaboration with the SAPS and other role players in the security industry and, through information-sharing and joint action, to effectively combat crime in the city and to improve rapid response capabilities,” Broodryk explains. “Our ultimate goal is to create a stronger and united front against crime in the interest of community safety,” Broodryk concludes.