Police need to do – and behave – better

TO defeat crime in our communities, there is a great need for the police to work together with the community. As a community, we need to stop buying stolen goods because we are creating a market.

One of the demands lately is plasma televisions – people are scared in their own houses as they don’t know when criminals will come knocking at their door demanding a plasma. Our people work hard to buy their goods, only for them to be taken from them at their doorstep.

Ubuntu no longer exists in communities – people die like flies. The sad part is that we know the hot spots in our communities.

The police know these hot spots as well. It is so sad to see the police collaborating with criminals and drinking in full uniform.

You can’t expert police to be respected when they don’t behave in their uniforms. If the police are serious about fighting crime, they need to do better and behave better.

People are no longer safe in their own houses day and night. Kids are no longer safe at school. The patrollers (neighbourhood watch) are not supposed to do the work of the police but to assist in promoting peace and safety.

Let us all work together to shape the change in our community. Let us reclaim our communities and live in peace. Enough is enough.

Mncedisi Mvinjelwa, chairman, Siyakhathala Community Forum, New Brighton, Port Elizabeth