Residents of Mitchells Plain can sleep a little easier after two safety kiosks, used as crime deterrents, were unveiled.
|||Cape Town - Residents of Mitchells Plain can sleep a little easier after two safety kiosks, used as crime deterrents, were unveiled.
The kiosks are meant to create increased law enforcement visibility and will also serve as one-stop shops for residents who may not be able to get to a police station to report crimes or have documents certified.
The handover of the kiosks by MEC of Community Safety Dan Plato at the Town Centre and in Tafelsig on Monday, forms part of the “new safety partnerships”, which will see the roll out of 40 similar mobile stations.
Manned by the city council’s law enforcement officers, the kiosks will also form the base from which the police’s operations and blitzes will be supported.
Mitchells Plain resident Cedric Daniels said they “really needed all the help we could get” to fight crime in the sprawling suburb.
Daniels said the kiosk at the Town Centre “would help a lot because there was a lot of crime there”.
He said criminals were moving out of the residential areas to commit crime at the Town Centre.
“We don’t have a mobile police station here. We need this kiosk, but it needs all of us to work together to fight crime,” he said.
Resident, Daniel Davids, said with the help they would receive from the kiosk, they hoped to win the fight against crime.
He said the kiosks would take pressure off the police in their crime-fighting duties.
“This will definitely help decrease crime in Mitchells Plain,” he said.
Another resident, who did not want to be named, said the residents wanted safety kiosks inside their areas because “gangs shot at each other all the time”.
Plato said the kiosks served a dual function. He said residents could not only have their documents certified, but could lodge complaints and report crime there.
The safety kiosks will also provide job opportunities.
“Ordinary neighbourhood watches will also be trained to man the kiosk and the department will pay them a stipend.”
Cape Argus
