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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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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.