Community policing as a crime prevention strategy for the Cape Town City Police

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The purpose of the study is to establish if community policing is beingimplemented by the Cape Town City Police and if so, to what extent. The studyfurther aims to establish whether the full implementation of community policingcould be expected to have a positive impact on the reduction of crime in CapeTown.To this end, the reader is presented with a brief overview of local government inSouth Africa, an in-depth discussion of the transformation process which resultedin the current municipal structures, and an introduction to the non-traditional localgovernment function of crime prevention. Local government's increasinginvolvement in crime prevention and the resulting establishment of municipalpolice services are discussed and it is argued that crime prevention strategies ofmunicipal police services should build on existing local government efforts andshould therefore focus on removing the root causes of crime.Further to the above, a detailed discussion of community policing is embarkedupon. This section provides a theoretical account of what community policingentails, as well as a theoretical framework against which the researcher'sempirical study with regard to the implementation of community policing by theCape Town City Police, can be planned, executed and the results thereof beevaluated. It deals with the relevant historical perspectives, presents a workabledefinition for community policing that will direct the further conduct of theresearch and provides detailed discussions on each of the elements ofcommunity policing. Implementation of this policing method with specificreference to South Africa, the requirements of a community police officer, as wellas the relationship between fear, disorder and crime are also dealt with here.The results of the researcher's empirical study are furthermore presented and itis concluded that certain steps have indeed been taken by the Cape Town CityPolice towards the institutionalisation of community policing and that the fullimplementation of community policing by this service can be expected to have asignificant impact on the prevention of crime in Cape Town.In closing, the reader is presented with practical recommendations which willensure the effective implementation of community policing by the Cape TownCity Police.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University