Newsletters

2010 Plans

Dear Bedfordview Precinct Members

Trusting that you all had a great break, and that you are ready for a phenomenal 2010! At the Community Police Forum, we have had an eventful strategy session peppered with good ideas and solidly backed with implementation plans and strict timelines. One of our main aims this year is to increase our reach into Bedfordview and increase the number of contacts, both business and residential, on our database. This information assists us in alerting you to the benefits of community policing, and the advantages of spreading information which informs and educates. Our next priority is to drive the financing and construction of our new Police Station. A full page advertisement will shortly appear in the Bedfordview Edenvale News to kick-start the project. We require the buy-in of every resident to build a station which will serve as a model to the rest of the country, where our policemen and women can go to work with dignity and pride. Another initiative is a fun walk in Bedfordview for families, in support of our police.

For fundraising Melanie and Fran will be putting together a day of self-defence training, and a series of Nu Metro movie evenings for the community. One of our Directors, Ronelle Juleff will be spearheading a recycling campaign at the station. We are pleased to be putting together a quarterly newsletter for the public to see what goes on behind the scenes at the Police Forum. In order to infiltrate the community, we shall be going door to door with informative brochures for the next few months. The schools will also become involved by asking their senior learners to assist us. Those learners will in turn gain social commitment points for themselves.

One of the challenges we face is to strengthen our Domestic Workers’ Forum. We require a dedicated person who has time on her hands to build and manage this forum. We currently have sixty domestic workers who are trained by Penny Steyn once a month. We have to utilise the Methodist Church in De Wet street to garner support from the Rag area. Ideally this lady would be from the Rag area. She must have creative ideas, administrative skills and an intense desire to succeed in promoting, marketing and managing the forum – as a volunteer. In addition, we require a similar person to be a liaison between the schools in our area and the Police Forum. A person who is able to put forward creative ideas on how the police can interface with the children. So far we have formed the relationships, had meetings with the principals on a semi-regular basis and brought the police dogs and horses to one school. There are a million more things we can do. The person we need must organise police speakers at every school in our area – on crime, on drugs, etc. Perhaps start an informant system where children can pop anonymous tip offs into a box – investigate the “adopt-a-cop” initiative – publish police colouring in books. The fascinating thing about this job would be that you can create it yourself from an extremely sound foundation with tons of support from us. We even have a relationship with the Metro police where they can attend the school meetings. What an amazing way to contribute to our community! Another talented Bedfordview resident is needed to manage our website on a monthly basis.

One area on which we need to work hard to improve is our sector policing. We had appointed sector managers from the community, however their input has fizzled out. Sector policing splits the precinct into areas which are smaller and easier to police. A sector manager would collate information on their sector, ie: names, email addresses of members of the community or details of shopping centre operational management members. They would receive information from the database and would meet with the Police Forum representative and the Police Cluster Commander of the area to discuss and find solutions to issues or problems. This information would feed directly into the operational meeting which I chair once a month. The following sectors require a dedicated committed person who is prepared to liase with the community and attend a meeting twice a month. This is crucial, and will go a long way to assisting the police in reducing crime. Superintendent Sambo is adamant that this year we make it work.

Finally, we are very excited to be involved in hosting and presenting the 440 Australians who will be staying at the Nicol Hotel. We shall be preparing welcome packs for the visitors in conjunction with the Bedford Buzz, and will be available throughout the World Cup to assist tourists who, (God forbid) become victims of crime. In this regard we would appreciate the services of volunteer interpreters from our community to come forward so that we can create a panel. Should the need arise, that person can be called upon to assist with the taking of statements.

So, all in all, we have a super busy year planned. If you are interested in any of the abovementioned positions please e-mail me directly on mconstas@bbmlaw.co.za. We wish you and your families a safe and peaceful New Year, filled with many opportunities and myriad of memorable moments.

Best regards, Marina Constas

Chairperson Bedfordview Community Police Forum

Newsletter Archives

Newsletter Nov 2007 (345kb) Please click here to download