AFTER months of poor attendance and community apathy, the Empangeni Community Policing Forum (CPF) will be shut down until further notice.
Notices to this effect are expected to be served to all committee members in the coming week.
At the monthly meeting on Tuesday, attended by one committee member and three residents, a decision was taken by police management to restart the forum in the new year once interested community members have been identified.
Empangeni SAPS’ Lieutenant Colonel Vassie Naidoo said,’ There is a lack of interest, this meeting is non representative and we have to start over.
‘Police have become targets and we are thinly spread over a large region, therefore community support is imperative.
‘All neighbourhood watch groups are not in attendance and this is the only formal platform in which their concerns or feedback can be shared.’ Naidoo said.
Pastor Graham Patterson said although the neighbourhood watch groups were doing good work, it is being done in an incorrect manner.
‘I was in the police force for several years. Great work is being done, but the neighbourhood watch groups are conducting themselves in an illegal manner.
‘They are searching people illegally and I have been pulled over by members of the group once before.
‘These groups need to go through formal channels such as the CPF to avoid being implicated in any unlawful acts.’ Patterson said.
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