Background of Area | Project Overview | Community Meeting | The Way Forward | ALL MULTIMEDIA

We were strangers to the areas of Oatlands North, Somerset Heights and Currie Park. But after exploring and growing to understand the fears of the residents we set about formulating a way of improving general security in the area. We came to realise that the fabric of the community was breaking down and trust in the police was at an extreme low. Residents were turning to vigilante justice and Hi-Tech to protect themselves against crime. 

These attitudes of isolation were not proving beneficial.  A common trend that we noticed emerging was an “every-man-for-himself” attitude.  Neighbours attempted to displace crime onto the homes of others by obtaining bigger and better security systems than their next door neighbours. There was no camaraderie between neighbours who did not concern themselves with the safety of others. The community also held the police in such low esteem they resisted working with them or reporting crime. 

Even though crime is a common factor it clearly divides rather than unites residents. We attempted to create media which bridged these divides. This included creating numerous forums in which the community could come together to find solutions such as the meeting of both our focus group and final exhibition of our work. We also included a blog to record and present our findings as the project progressed, and a phone-tree to attempt to reconnect the community (included in ALL MULTIMEDIA).

Our media also particularly focused on restoring the residents faith in the SAPS and encouraging these two parties to work together to combat crime. This included inviting Insp. Milanda Coetzee and Sgt. Mckenzie of the SAPS to speak to the community at our final meeting.

The documentary ‘Policing the Divide’ also specifically dealt with the community’s disillusionment with the police, while a news magazine and  the soundslides looked at diverse issues in the area which tied to finding community solutions to crime.