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Community Responses to

Crime & Violence

URBAN SAFETY AND CRIME PREVENTION

LEARNING EXCHANGE Ethekwini, 2014

Rob Chetty

KZN Community Safety & Liaison

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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

• Organising communities for safety

• Self organisation by communities

• KZN Holistic Community Liaison

Framework

• What communities face?

• What communities should target?

KZN REPORTED CRIME: 2013/2014

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Interpersonal Violence

26%

Property Crimes

42%

Other 32%

SAPS, 2014

68% +

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• Social media platforms

o Risk of a ‘perverse effect’

• Watches and networks

Self organisation by Communities

KWAZULU-NATAL HOLISTIC COMMUNITY

LIAISON FRAMEWORK

WARD SAFETY COMMITTEE

VOTING DISTRICT SAFETY TEAM

VOTING DISTRICT SAFETY TEAM

WARD SAFETY COMMITTEE

VOTING DISTRICT SAFETY TEAM

VOTING DISTRICT SAFETY TEAM

CPFs LOCAL SAFETY

COMMITTEE ID

P

Local

EXCO (Safety

Reps)

Cluster CPF

Board JCPS Reps

Civil Society Reps

District Safety

Committee

Community Safety Forum

IDP

District

EXCO (Safety

Reps)

Provincial CPF Board JCPS Cluster

Civil Society Reps

Provincial Safety

Committee

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KZN Holistic Community Liaison Framework (cont.)

o CPFs

o Community Crime Prevention Associations (KZNCCPA)

o Ward Safety Committees

o Local Safety Teams and Street Committees

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Communities – evolution in

safety promotion …..

KZN REPORTED CRIME: 2013/2014

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Interpersonal Violence

26% (n = 74 800)

Property Crimes

42% (n = 119 200)

Other 32%

SAPS, 2014

68% +

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What do communities face?

Agglomeration of vulnerabilities

• Nearly a quarter of children do not live with their

parents (Children’s Institute).

• Neglect and abuse will lead to cycle of violence

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What do communities face?

Agglomeration of vulnerabilities (cont.)

• South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug

Use (SACENDU) findings:

• authority on surveillance of alcohol and other drug use

trends and associated consequences

• KZN – main substance of abuse = alcohol;

• Increase alcohol use among under 20s;

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What do communities face?

• SACENDU findings (cont.):

• Increasing number of youth and young adults in treatment

for alcohol-related problems;

• Age at which people are seeking treatment for alcohol

problems is declining;

• Substance induced violence in schools is a growing

concern.

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13

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Where do we target?

Drugs and alcohol

When are people most at risk of abusing or becoming

addicted to substances:

1. There is easy availability of the addictive

substance;

2. There is a high level of peer usage of the

addictive substance.

CRIME GENERATORS IN KWAZULU-NATAL.

• UMLAZI : 2014-02-13 :

Six suspects arrested

for Armed Robbery.

• Recovered by the

Police:

• Alcohol

• Drugs

• Firearms and

ammunition

• Cellphones

• Money

• Different Identity

Documents

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Where do we target?

Young men – high involvement in crime

Empathy – the absent quality

• You feel pain in the face of the suffering of another;

• That pain holds you back from causing further

suffering;

• Empathy takes you out of the trance of believing that it

is all about you, and alerts you to the predicament of

the other (Clinical Psychologist, Leonard Carr)

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Thank you! Siyabonga!

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KZN Holistic Community Liaison Framework

• Goal - Promote community participation in crime

prevention and safety initiatives

• Provincial level – KZN Council Against Crime

• advisory and consultative platform

• District Community Safety Forums (CSFs)

• multi-agency structures established to coordinate safety

efforts of government and civil society.