WHAT IS COMMUNITY IN BLUE (CIB)
The Community in Blue is an initiative of the South African Police Service, with the goal of elevating all Community Policing Forums to the level the law intended, by close vetting and training of Community Policing Forum members to ensure high standards of protocol and action.
The Community in Blue members will still fall under and be accountable to the CPF and assume the objectives of the CPF and Board as stated in section 18(1) of the South African Police Service Act, 1995 (Act No.68 of 1995).
The Community Policing Strategy through the Community in Blue programme, aims to operationalise the concept of community policing with a view of stimulating active citizenry and citizen participation in the fight against crime.
The Community Policing Strategy is thus a strategic policy platform to get all communities to get involved in the fight against crime. To efficiently reduce crime, it is necessary to transform and reorganise government and facilitate real community participation.
This is therefore an approach that focuses on police establishing partnerships and enhancing working relations with members of our communities with a view of ensuring that our men and women in blue inherit a proactive policing approach in addressing public safety concerns.
Integrated in the Community Policing Philosophy, is the concept of Sector Policing, which directs that the policing area be divided into smaller manageable sectors. It involves the assignment of police officers to a particular sector which encourages regular patrol and increased interaction with members of local communities.
The Community Policing Strategy thus aims to mobilise all communities in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) to join the fight against crime. Furthermore, it also seeks to encourage communities to actively participate in endeavours to prevent, combat and fight crime.
This strategy aims:
- To build a community that is morally alert through community outreach, education and awareness
- To increase resilience to victimisation in sectors of our community through building community resilience to crime
- To build interrelation between safety and security stakeholders through a multidisciplinary collaboration of all role players in the JCPS cluster
- To involve and empower all formalised community structures in ensuring public order through Community Policing and Public Order Policing
- To acquaint the community about crime fighting initiatives within the SAPS through communication
- To capacitate and resource Community Policing Forum structures nationwide
- With the active participation of all communities across the country, the Community Policing Strategy will be implemented from today onwards with the aim of maximising the involvement of citizens in the fight against crime.
The Community in Blue programme which falls under the Community Policing Strategy, further emphasises the importance of involving the community in safety and policing related matters through the assistance of community patrollers. Community in Blue patrollers will be more involved in structured community safety initiatives/structures/projects and into a formal police-community partnership. The Community in Blue patrollers will be utilised in the following capacities:
- Participate in the social crime prevention initiatives;
- Support crime prevention through environmental design initiatives;
- Institutionalise community participation within situational and developmental crime prevention;
- Advocate for community involvement in ensuring safety and security needs within the JCPS cluster;
- Collaborate with the SAPS in increasing visibility and operational capacity;
- As well as enhancing community based intelligence;
