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

Despite the fact that residents felt apathy amongst their community, those few who did attend our final neighbourhood meeting assisted their fellow community members and the South African Police Services in finding viable and potential solutions which could work to curb crime in Somerset Heights, Currie Park and Oatlands North. 

Solutions which were discussed and are to be looked into include:

1. Having an online email service or a blog system which is free to check by community members and the Grahamstown Police Services; this can be used to report crime in the areas and to open up a two way channel of communication between the community and the police.

2. The notion that individuals don’t report crime because of the lengthy and inefficient process at the police community office was also discussed. Ideas of having DIY forms at the police station which can be filled in directly by community members who have experienced incidents of crime was mentioned as a way to get more people to report crime and to save time doing it.

3. Residents also felt that they needed to express their concerns and frustrations through means of letters and more pamphlets to encourage the community to attend these meetings so they can collectively come up with further solutions. Our group has started a phone-tree within the community as a potential solution and hope that members use it to inform others of potential suspects and crimes that have occurred in the area. It was felt that this would help to bring back a sense of community and collective accountability to the area.

4. The cell phone numbers of the sector head as well as the officer on patrol were also circulated so that crime can be reported faster and reacted upon faster.

5. Community members also strongly felt the need for more neighbourhood meetings like this in the future to bring the community together and share ideas on crime prevention.

As a group we really enjoyed our time in the area.  We learnt a lot from the experience and would like to thank those in the community for taking the time to engage with us.  We hope our findings and output have been beneficial in generating thought around the issues of crime and crime prevention in the area.

We hope that our project serves as a platform from which the community can now expand upon and work more closely with SAPS in Grahamstown.  Hopefully the solutions suggested by the community can gain momentum and evolve and adapt in the future to make the areas of Oatlands North, Somerset Heights and Currie Park safer and more enjoyable places to live in the future.