KNYSNA NEWS - In a bid to combat crime and make Knysna a safer place to live in, the Knysna community police forum (CPF) elected its new leadership at the forum's AGM recently.
During the elections that were overseen by Fagrodien Johnson from the department of community safety, Cheryl Britz was re-elected as the CPF's chair with Rhoda Hendricks as the deputy chair and Ivan Harker as the secretary.
Lillian Harker was elected as the treasurer and Beryl Poggenpoel as PR officer.
The meeting agreed that Joseph Kobi and Bertie Biel, who were up for the position of deputy secretary, be added as additional members after it was decided to give the position to a member of the police.
During his opening remarks, Knysna police station commander Colonel Atwell Metu thanked the Knysna CPF for the role they have been playing in curbing crime in Knysna."You ensured that our communities are safe. The police continued to arrest suspects and we also received convictions for the cases we investigated," added Metu.
He said the police are proud to be associated with the crime-fighting stakeholders and thanked the neighbourhood watches and the CPF for ensuring safety in Knysna. Metu said the installation of CCTV cameras in crime hot-spots areas is a success. "We would like the CCTVs to be installed in other hot-spot areas of Knysna," he added.
Britz said they are a proactive CPF. "The partnership between the CPF and the police achieved a lot. Contact crimes and property crimes are still our major challenge.
We also have a challenge of service delivery and a need for another police station to service Knysna so that the area has two police stations," she said.
She also reminded the meeting that during their previous five-year term, the Knysna CPF was voted the best in the province in 2016 and 2017. "In 2017 it was also voted as the best CPF in the country. We thank the station commander, the police members and the station management for their support," she said.
Britz thanked the organisations for re-electing her as chair. "Thank you for having trust in this team, with teamwork we will be able to achieve a lot," she said.
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