- The Durbanville CPF and provincial police resolved a dispute over reporting community complaints against Durbanville police.
- After discussions, it was agreed that the CPF would remain involved in the complaints process.
- Both parties look forward to a transparent and accountable partnership benefiting the Durbanville community.
The air has been cleared between the Durbanville Community Police Forum (CPF) and provincial police officials on the matter of reporting service delivery complaints against Durbanville police station.
Committee members of Durbanville CPF voted unanimously to withdraw all support from the Durbanville police at its annual general meeting two weeks ago.
This came after the provincial police department had issued an instruction to Durbanville police not to investigate any service delivery complaints against the station from the public.
The Durbanville CPF has also been banned from raising and tracking service delivery complaints related to the Durbanville police on behalf of the Durbanville community.
Issues resolved
However, the issues were resolved when Louie Storm, chair of Durbanville CPF, met last week with the brigadiers in charge of the provincial services complaints directorate, brigadiers Tania Hoskin and Donovan Heilbron.
According to Storm it was resolved that all the other police stations in the district will be informed about the correct process to be followed when it comes to reporting service delivery issues.
“Durbanville CPF will not be removed from the complaints process but will stay an integral part of it,” he says.
“Complaints will be accepted via email from the CPF on behalf of the community. Complaints will be raised directly with provincial police,” he says.
“A straight answer could not be gathered from the police regarding these three very basic issues over the period of more than three months,” says Storm.
“Now that this has been settled and confirmed, there is no major obstacle when it comes to holding Durbanville police accountable, as well as being transparent, in their day to day conduct.
“Since this has been resolved, we are looking forward to working with Durbanville police for the benefit of the community,” he says.
