KZN communities must 'ensure own safety'
Community Policing Forums in KwaZulu-Natal feel increased funding and full resources for community centred policing could help reduce crime.
CPF management in the province feels incidents will decrease if communities own their safety.
Board chairperson for CPFs in KZN, Bafana Mtambo has been speaking to Newswatch following the release of the 2014 / 2015 annual crime statistics yesterday.
Data for the last financial year shows a 5.4% increase in murders in the province.
Nationally, murders increased by 4.6%.
Mtambo believes communities taking ownership of their neighbourhoods is a start.
"KwaZulu-Natal has about 10 million people, but we have about 26 000 men in blue in the province. We have 25 clusters. Some of these clusters are a contributing factor. There are a lot of things that come to the fore - the issues of taxi violence in Glebelands and KwaMashu.
"The criminal element always finds this vacuum that has been created by communities not taking ownership of their own safety," he said.
(File photo)