In a drive to further mobilise and empower communities in helping the police fight crime, General Motors South Africa (GMSA) has made eight Corsa Utility vehicles available to neighbourhood patrols in the city.The hand over today of South Africa's top selling half ton bakkies, has given the i-Patrol project a major boost in expanding its reach in the local community. i-Patrol, which is a joint venture between the South African Police Services (SAPS), community policing forums, Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, Williams Hunt Port Elizabeth and Algoa FM, aims to promote closer co-operation between the police and the community.
i-Patrol follows an anti-crime awareness project, Crime Crackdown, an initiative GMSA started last year in partnership with Algoa FM, which now moves beyond awareness to visibility on the streets.
According to Denise van Huyssteen, GMSA's Communications Manager, the company views crime prevention as one of the core areas of focus in terms of corporate social responsibility. She said crime affected every single person in the city and that every individual should have the freedom to live and work in a safe and secure environment. "We should move from apathy to action if we are serious about driving crime out of our neighbourhoods," she added.
The cluster commanders for the Motherwell and Mount Road clusters, assistant commissioner Johan Kapp and assistant commissioner Dawie Rabie, said that vehicles are a vital resource in the fight against crime. They said areas where neighbourhood watch patrols are active, have proven to be less affected by crime. Motherwell and Kabega Park are prime examples of areas where crime had reduced as a result of effective community policing according to the assistant commissioners. "As much as crime prevention is the work of the police, it is everyone's responsibility to help them do their job efficiently and effectively. An initiative like i-Patrol is a prime example of how working together can assist to eliminate criminal activity," they said.
The police need the support of the community to help combat crime they said. Both Rabie and Kapp concurred that crime takes place at community level and that community members are often aware of who commit these crimes. "This helps the police to persecute the suspects and ultimately prosecute them."
The neighbourhood patrols that receive Corsa Utilities today were chosen after a stringent selection process whereby sector crime forums submitted proposals which provide evidence of success, current performance and how utilisation of vehicles would enhance effectiveness. The recipients of the vehicles include Gelvandale, Swartkops, Humewood, Kwazakhele, Kabega Park, Bethelsdorp, New Brighton and Walmer. This is a pilot project which will be reviewed after a year.
