Fifteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

The damaging impact of crime on the safety and security of communities, peace, and stability in the country as well as its effect on the country’s reputation among potential international tourists and investors, and how all these affect the general quality of life of ordinary citizens needs no emphasis. Regardless of its enviable status in the practicing of policing, more than twenty years after the attainment of democracy, the question beckons whether the inception of community policing and particularly community policing forums (CPFs) is an effective strategy within the South African communities to combat and prevent crime. The aim of this paper is to gain a qualitative understanding of how limited knowledge by community members in Durban, South Africa concerning Community Policing limits the effective functioning of the CPFs in crime combating. Furthermore, it seeks to show how the lack of affinity to CPFs by the community members pose a challenge to the functioning of the CPFs in order to find ways in which community policing as an enviable crime prevention strategy can be improved to make communities safer. The findings collected through focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews with a total number of 55 participants comprising of South African Police Service and CPFs representatives, political leaders, and ordinary members of the two communities suggest limited knowledge of and affinity to CPFs by community members. This owes to lack of communication, resources, trust, as well as political interference and SAPS organisational culture, which affect the functioning of these CPFs.