THE Sandringham Community Policing Forum and the police in the area have taken major steps to curb crime in the area.

This collaboration has resulted in a noticeable reduction of crime in the area. Station commissioner, Superintendent Joe Adendaal, attributes this decline to "partnership policing" by a network comprising the police, the community policing forum, a drug forum, a victim empowerment programme and a 76-strong corps of police reservists.

This achievement, says Lionel Stein, who is both the Johannesburg area chair of CPFs and chairperson of the Sandringham CPF, would not have been possible without funding from the community. "We encourage funding. Households pay R30 which is used for the benefit of the police. We use the money to buy essentials such as cellphones and to help in upgrading the police station."

The Sandringham community is also going to fund the first phase of the upgrading, which will require R600 000. This is expected to last six months, and then the Department of Public Works will come in for the next phase, with an allocation of R1,5-million. "We have had wonderful co-operation from the police and the public works department which is responsible for the upgrading of the police station," adds Stein.

Once it is finished, there will be, among other improvements, proper offices for the detectives. "Detectives are now here at the police station. They used to be four to five kilometres away," says Stein. "People can now come and see them. We now have everything under one roof."

The CPF has also arranged for donations of a vehicle and radios. But their role is much more than financial. The job of the CPF, says vice-chair Wilfred Greyling, is to build a healthy relationship between the police and the community by opening up a channel between the two. There are monthly meetings with the police in which laws affecting the public are discussed. We also have a range of sub-forums.

In the drug sub-forum, experts from the community run workshops in schools where teachers and learners are taught more than they already know about drug problems. "We are able to advise," says Stein. "The idea is not to prosecute a child involved in drugs, but to help with awareness and rehabilitation."

The CPF-initiated Adopt-A-Cop Campaign is going strong. When learners know of crimes, including child abuse, there is an officer they've met - the officer the school has "adopted". "If a school has a problem," says Stein, "the people know who to phone immediately and the police will react accordingly."

There is a crucial "legal forum" which assists crime victims and advises them of their rights and the legal procedures that will follow the arrest of the perpetrators.

Sector policing is working well, although the policemen attached to each sector are reservists, because of a lack of staff. Still, it seems to work; crime levels are down. "The residents are involved and they co-operate with the neighbourhood watch and police reservists," Stein says. "The community works together with the reservists and report any suspicious people and activities in their areas, and the reservists react accordingly."

The station also has an active Victim Empowerment Programme, offering help - from advice to medical treatment - for victims of violent crime. A crisis support team is on 24-hour call.

"If there is crime and trauma involved, we go to the scene and offer help," Stein says. "If a person is traumatised, he or she can't think properly. What we do is crisis intervention. We handle the crisis by arranging counselling and the first two sessions are free of charge."

"We have a group of counsellors, social workers and properly trained people who work with us. Victims will get the help and assistance they need," adds Stein.

The kinds of crimes committed in Sandringham are not much different to those in the rest of the city, according to Adendaal: hijackings, house break-ins and robberies - but the incidence is no longer very high. When CPFs work well, the public becomes involved in crime prevention.

"Our major challenge now is that of drug and alcohol abuse," Stein says.

For more information, contact Lionel Stein on 082-552-9268 or station commissioner, Superintedent Joe Odendaal on (011) 719-4800.