Community patrols — extra boots on the ground in fight against festive season crime

Lebogang Ngwisane, a mother of two, is no pushover when it comes to tackling criminals.

Armed with limited resources and a small monthly stipend, she was one of 2,372 community patrollers who hit the streets in hazardous locations to help police fight crime over the festive season in Gauteng.

“It is rewarding to know that people are safe, especially when shop owners at the mall tell us how thankful they are,” she said.

Her “beat” covers Benoni in the Ekurhuleni area and she has been a patroller since 2011.

She was keen to get involved in the community after witnessing the crime in her area and realised that people needed to get involved to win the battle.

“Yes there are challenges and you need to constantly look after yourself,” she said.

Ngwisane patrols crime hot spots with others, deployed in rotational shifts.

“We watch out for opportunistic criminals, alert the police and shop owners, and shoppers in the mall always tell us that they are thankful for our visibility,” she said.

Dr Reza Patel from the Gauteng provincial community police board said the patrollers were committed, dedicated and were having an impact.

“They are deployed in certain areas, do this with the little income and yet they are grateful,” he said.

“Remember these people only work at this time of the year and when they go out there, they face danger equivalent to that of police officials,” he said.

He said they served as an early warning network for police. “They raise early warnings to the police about crimes. They should be encouraged and be well-supported by the public,” he added.

“They are only there for the festive season. They are not armed and their presence does clear those criminal opportunists out of the areas,” said Patel.

They operate in hazardous locations including taxi ranks, recreational parks and malls.

Community safety department spokesperson Ofentse Morwane said the patrollers operated as the “eyes and ears of law enforcement agencies in terms of community crime intelligence”.

“Patrollers would ensure the safety of community members which include stop and searches for any dangerous weapons, provide general information on the surroundings as well as safety tips,” said Morwane.

The patrollers are paid R2,500 a month.

In Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, patrollers helped foil a rape incident in Florida Park while in Mamelodi township in the Tshwane area, they assisted in the recovery of stolen goods. In Ekurhuleni a wanted suspect who robbed people visiting a mall was arrested.

One of the patrollers who helped foil the rape incident, Comfort Nkola, said when the would-be victim screamed they immediately realised there was a problem. “We then cornered the suspects and helped the lady,” he said.

The father of five from Florida started working as a patroller in December. “Many people know me in my community. I always help liaise with the police to keep our community safe. When any incident occurred people will call me to come and help,” he said.

The department said patrollers were instrumental in the recovery of stolen vehicles, the identification of wanted suspects and ensuring the safety of pedestrians in hazardous places.