Changing direction to make Booysens safer

By Sheree Russouw

EFFORTS to forge close relations between the police and the community in Booysens have been fraught with problems, but are beginning to bear fruit.

While he has often hit heads with police officers at the Booysens Police precinct, which serves about 72 suburbs stretching from Nasrec to Tulisa Park, Dennis Jane, the chairperson of the Booysens Community Police Forum (CPF), south of Johannesburg, is confident that the attitudes of the police have improved in the last few years, at least towards the area's residents. "The community now has a better relationship with the police than they did historically."

But changing attitudes has not come easily. "The SA Police Service is like a huge, big tanker. You won't get it to change direction easily," says Jane.

"Still, we have had various problems with the restructuring of the police. My relationship with the station commander is very good, but there is a lot of support wanting from the management staff. I have adopted the attitude that unless they co-operate, we won't do anything," he says.

Director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo from the precinct says that while he has a fantastic relationship with the CPF, there have been some problems. "When people resist transformation, then relationships do start to become affected. But our police officers are trying their best to work with the community. Now, if you can't get on with the CPF, which is made up of people from the community, then you won't reach the community. Then only the criminals will benefit."

The Booysens CPF was formed in 1995, and Jane became the chairperson five years ago. It has four executive committee members. "Our main aim for the CPF was to assist the police in fighting crime," he says.

This councillor for Region 9 laughs wryly; saying that working on the CPF is a job that requires a significant amount of resilience. He concedes though that crime has not gone down substantially in the area. In recent years, there has been a proliferation of shebeens, both legal and illegal, and crimes have increasingly become more violent.

"Liquor is a big problem and I would say that at least half of our crimes are alcohol-related. These include car thefts, hijackings and armed robberies. Prostitutes and pimps have also moved in on the area, and drug sales have skyrocketed. "

To tackle crime, the CPF has embarked on a drive to recruit more volunteers to work at the precinct. At the moment, there are about 37 "reasonably active" reservists. They man roadblocks and respond to 10111 calls.

"I think a major problem that we face is the lack of interest of the population. If 200 000 people live in our area, let's say, then why do only 50 people come to our meetings? There is not always a good community response."

Business, it seems, has been more forthcoming. Unitrans, a transport company, has pumped R2 000 a month into the station and it doesn't charge labour costs when repairing officers' cars. Adcoup, a JSE Securities Exchange listed firm, has awarded masters of business administration scholarships to four of the precinct's officer degrees, at a cost of R150 000.

The CPF has had its fair share of problems. Its victim empowerment programme was short-lived, and has been discontinued. At least 10 rape victims approached the precinct every month, but volunteers were not called in to help them. "We still have two volunteers working on this programme, but they are from outside our area and are not trained, and have limited support."

He says that sector policing too has been plagued by difficulties. "We've been trying to implement sector policing for quite a while, without success. The police officers who we chose to do our sector policing were not enthusiastic about the idea and now we have volunteers who are helping out with it."

Mariemuthoo concedes that there have been problems with sector policing. "Look, with sector policing, you obviously want to have people there who will buy into the community, not just people who are placed there. The officers involved in sector policing often deal the most with the community, go to meetings and work long hours. You need people who want to do that kind of work. I am trying my level best with sector policing and I'm confident that it will take off. Also, remember that the police service enjoys very limited resources and there are start-up problems to any new idea."

The area has now been divided into six sectors, with four officers monitoring and policing all of these sectors that consist of roughly 15 suburbs each. "Things can only get better for Booysens," Jane says. "I think that the success of the CPF depends on us."

For more information, Dennis Jane can be reached on 011 435 2627 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or the stationcommissioner, Director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo, on 011 433 5211 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .