Neighbourhood
watches in the northern suburbs of Cape Town, still have until 31 January to
submit nominations for watches and their members, who have gone above and
beyond the call of duty during the course of last year, for the 2018
Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) Awards.
“The
Neighbourhood Watch Awards 2018 will honour accredited neighbourhood watches in
the City. The different categories in the 2018 NHW Awards are designed to
honour the many different ways in which NHW members contribute towards safety.
This includes formal patrols, those who work closely with the various emergency
services, who assist with social issues; who work with religious organisations
and NGOs; or even those working closely with our schools,” says Western Cape
Minister of Community Safety, Dan Plato.
Mayco
member for Social Services, Safety and Security in the Cit, JP Smith says
neighbourhood watches are force multipliers in the fight against crime.
“The
watches together with Law Enforcement, Metro Police, and other safety entities
are transforming our City in becoming a safer environment. Their work
contribute significantly towards building safer communities in Cape Town. Their
members dedicate their time and often some of their own resources towards this
goal,” he says.
Over the
last decade, the City has invested millions of Rand to train volunteers and
provide neighbourhood watch organisations with equipment like jackets, torches,
bicycles, hand radios and radio base stations for their watch rooms and has
partnered with these organisations to install and share information between
CCTV camera networks.
“The reason
we invest so much in our NHW’s is because we have seen the positive impact that
they are making in their communities.”
According
to Plato, the legal framework for NHW structures in the Western Cape created in
2017, provides legal legitimacy to all those NHW structures who are
successfully accredited.
Since its
inception about 200 NHW across the province have been issued with Certificates
of Accreditation.
“In
September 2017, DOCS signed a historic Neighbourhood Watch Memorandum of
Agreement with the City of Cape Town to co-ordinate our support for Accredited
NHWs, across the city,” he adds.
“The NHW
Awards, borne from the this partnership will showcase our appreciation of our
NHWs and their members as treasured safety partners.”
Categories
Anyone can
nominate an individual member or an entire NHW team. You can also nominate the same
person or team for more than one award category, but will need to submit
individual nominations for each of them.
Bronze
Category: Neighbourhood Watch teams of Distinction
These
awards will not be presented at the awards ceremony, and instead will be chosen
from among the nominations and the judges’ experience during 2017.
-Community
Service Excellence: for noteworthy excellence displayed in any form.
-Education
Support Excellence: for excellence in support for school and scholar safety, in
particular, support for the Department of Community Safety-led Walking Bus
Programme.
-Skills
Training Excellence: recognises the development of a wide range of skills for
comprehensive community safety and support.
-Organisational
Excellence: for excellence in NHW management that helps to create professional,
capable and accountable neighbourhood watch teams.
-Operational
Commitment: for exceptional and sustained operational commitment in partnership
with the state safety, security and emergency agencies.
Silver
Category: Individual Excellence Awards
-Mobiliser
of the Year: for exceptional efforts to mobilise communities in support of
safety.
-Skills
Master of the Year: in recognition of exceptional skills relevant to NHW duties
and community safety.
-Mentor of
the Year: in recognition of a NHW that has gone to extraordinary lengths to
nurture a next generation of capable, committed NHW teams.
-Inspiration
of the Year: a NHW leader who has displayed inspirational public leadership,
across several NHW areas, in support of community safety and the greater public
good.
-Crime
Fighter of the Year: for exceptional, selfless, professional and committed
service, in the fight against the scourge of crime.
Gold
Category: Leaders’ Choice
This is
adjudicated by the Mayor, Minster for Community Safety and the South African
Police Service Provincial Commissioner.
-Mayco
Member and/or Mayor’s Outstanding Achievement Award
-MEC’s
Outstanding Achievement Award
-SAPS
Provincial Commissioner’s Outstanding Achievement Award
NHW teams
of the Year
These are
nominated and adjudicated by the Judging Panel.
-From Zero
to Hero – Most Progress Award: in recognition of dramatic improvement by an NHW
team, covering a range of functions, abilities and professionalism.
-Most
Innovative Award: in recognition of innovative, progressive, smart and
integrated use of technology, towards community safety.
-Broken
Window Award: in recognition of exceptional efforts towards a clean, healthy
and safe environment, in which communities can lead dignified lives.
-Above
& Beyond Award: in recognition of exceptional efforts, above and beyond the
call of duty, to address a community safety issue in support of the public
good.
-Social
Responsibility Award: in recognition of a deep commitment to address, mitigate
and heal societal ills, towards healthier, inclusive and united communities.
-Courage in
Action Award: in recognition of sustained NHW operations in the face of highly
compromised community safety.
-NHW of the
Year: the team that best represents exemplary commitment and values consistent
with the broader NHW movement, the Constitution of the Republic of South
Africa, the Western Cape Provincial Government and the City of Cape Town.
How to
nominate
-Only NHW
members or teams that are accredited with DoCS or who have formally submitted
their application for accreditation can be nominated.
-Nominations
can only be submitted online from Monday, 1 January 2018 – Wednesday, 31
January 2018 at 17:00.
-When
completing your online nomination, you will need to provide a body of evidence
to support the nomination.
The NHW
Awards for 2017 will be held on Friday, 23 February 2018.
Two judging
panels will assess the nominations received from each of the four City areas.
The panels will consist of representatives from the City, Department of
Community Safety and the SAPS.
The
finalists will be notified on 12 February 2018 and will receive an invitation
to the awards ceremony.
For more
information on the 2018 Neighbourhood Watch Awards, kindly contact us by email:
