CPF crime fighters, top cops sign new constitution

CRIME fighters across Cape Town gathered, along with top cops, this week as they signed a new constitution for Community Policing Forums (CPFs) and Boards in the province.

The signing, hosted by the provincial CPF board, was attended by Community Safety MEC Reagen Allen, as well as provincial police commissioner Thembisile Patekile at the Milnerton police station on Monday.

The board said despite facing numerous challenges and obstacles, they worked to change the constitution to align organisational structures due to changes in police structures.

In the past, each police station was grouped into a cluster and as such, the CPF committees were structured the same way.

However, with the changes from clusters to districts, there were now significantly more stations grouped.

CPF board spokesperson Justin Kumlehn said in addition to these changes, the new constitution addressed historic issues faced over the years. Along with this were guidelines on how to deal with CPF representatives who had political aspirations.

“There are a number of changes. The majority speak to the change from cluster to districts as well as fixing some historic issues, which have been encountered over the years.

“The change from clusters to districts, which will now align CPFs with the operational structure of the SAPS, allowing better communication and smoother working relations culminating in a more cohesive working partnership, which will ultimately benefit the community, there were also amendments to strengthen the code of conduct and to introduce mechanisms to deal with members that have political aspirations, improvements on voting processes and dealing with associations linked to the CPFs as well as various definitions as well as legal prescripts that we needed to align with due to changes made over the years.”

Kumlehn said the board also had to look at streamlining dispute resolution procedures and the vetting of documents required when serving as a CPF representative.

There are currently 151 CPF committees across the province.

Allen said the signing of the constitution was significant and meant greater collaboration.

“This is to bring about a service that effectively attends to the needs of our residents. Collectively we aim to ensure that the oversight over SAPS leads to better service delivery. At every point, our inhabitants deserve a professional service that is of the highest standard,” Allen said.