DOROTHY Dorrangton has lived in Rosebank for 14 years, but she has never seen a policeman patrolling the region's streets. "But the police must be doing a good job," she says. "There's been no trouble here for a long time. A lot of us 'oldies' walk around here and we feel safe."

In Rosebank, serious crimes have dropped by 66 percent, from 1 241 in 1999 to 854 this year. According to Eve Jammy, the chairperson of the Rosebank Community Police Forum (CPF), this dramatic reduction can be attributed to the workings of the forum, and the crime-fighting efforts of the 87 police officers stationed at the Rosebank Police Station.

Inspector Kormaran Pillay, the communications and victim support officer, agrees that the CPF has helped to counter crime. "A few years ago there were nightclubs and so a lot of drugs and petty crime. Now all the nightclubs have been shut down and so we don't have those problems anymore." The community still has to contend with housebreaking and car theft, though.

The CPF was formed in 1995, and remarkably it has retained most of its committee members from back then. Says Jammy: "Crime has gone down incredibly as a result of the CPF working with the police. The forum, which is made up of 12 people, was formed to get in touch with members of the community. But it has not always been easy. It has been a long, hard struggle.

"But we've been lucky - there are a lot of people who support us financially in the community. We're also lucky because we have a very good committee. Of course, sometimes the community is not as involved as it can be." The CPF members meet every month to discuss crime in the area, and how to meet the needs of the local police.

Gone are the days when a paltry total of four police officers served the community from a dilapidated caravan. A recent fundraising drive by the CPF has led to business and the community raising enough money to rebuild and redesign the station. Now, you'll easily be forgiven for mistaking it for another one of the posh houses situated on Rosebank's elite blocks.

"We've done incredible things," says Jammy. "We have virtually rebuilt the entire police station. It used to be a tiny and grotty place. Now, it is so much better. We've really tried to make the working conditions of the police better, but it did take a while to work out the needs of the police."

The CPF raises money in a variety of ways - from approaching local businesses (who rarely, if ever, say no) to the publication of a best-selling cookery book, Arresting Recipes. The first edition was so popular five years ago it went into a second printing. Now a second edition has just been launched.

At the station, chances are pretty high that a member of the community, working in the client centre, will come to your assistance. Or you may run into volunteers like Margaret Rush picking up huge bags of compost for the station's pretty and quaint little garden. She has been volunteering her time at the station for the past six years, and she says she enjoys it.

Years ago, the local police did not even have tea or coffee. So, the CPF quenched their thirst and supplied not only these beverages, but also heaters to warm the station's officers in the cold winter months. "We are lucky because we have a strong and active community spirit. I think that the community has been responsive," says Pillay. "Business has played a big role and a lot of companies have donated their time and expertise. So has the CPF; for example, if there's a death in the department, then the CPF will donate money to help pay for the funeral."

An example, he says, of the police's reach into the community is the Adopt-A-Cop campaign. Here, schools adopt a police officer, who then discusses drugs and child abuse with young learners in an effort to educate them. The precinct has also been divided into four sectors where two policemen patrol 24 hours a day. "The idea is to get out in the community, so one to four police officers go out into the community and patrol parts of the community," says Pillay.

The station runs a crisis intervention programme, which aims to be "a shoulder to lean on" for victims of rapes, hijackings and robbery. Trained volunteers drawn from the community provide emotional support to victims of crime.

Pillay hopes to improve the computer literacy of police officers and to send them on life skills courses. "We also hope to send our volunteers on counselling courses," he says.

And Pillay affirms that the attitude of the police has changed for the better. "We are trying to change the perceptions of the police. And the CPF is helping. I think that there is a difference between a CPF that comes with an attitude and tries to dictate to the station commissioner, and a CPF like ours.

"The CPF has acted like a police watchdog all along, and its members have shown us that they want to work together with us. There was a little resistance initially from the police, but the CPF has approached us with an open mind," he says.

For more information, contact CPF chairperson Eve Jammy on 082-444-2792 , or Inspector Kormaran Pillay, communications officer and victim support officer, (011) 778-4713.