Assessing the effectiveness of community policing forums in their role in combatting crime

Abstract: CPFs have arguably played a significant role in combating crimes in South Africa. This study considers how Moreletapark’s Sector 4 CPF, in its commitment to community policing, deals with issues that have hereto challenged its operational effectiveness and sustainability, namely recruitment, membership and participation. Despite the ideals of community policing, significant limitations that challenge CPF members to combat crime effectively in Moreletapark persist. These limitations include the limited ability to attract, retain, and motivate CPF volunteers, which has resulted in the withdrawal of CPF members from operational activities, which are necessary to maintain organisational effectiveness. The key focus of the study was, therefore, to assess the participation of community members in the Community Policing Forum’s crime combating role. In order to effectively execute the study, the research objectives were: to establish how CPFs attract participants to join them to combat crime; to explore what motivates volunteers to participate in the CPF’s activities; to explore possible reasons for the decreasing membership in the CPFs; to establish the effectiveness of CPFs in their crime combating role; and to proffer recommendations, if needs be, which will stimulate participation in the CPFs in their crime combating role. In order to achieve the set objectives, a qualitative research design was adopted, while purposive sampling was utilised to select respondents. Semi-structured interview questions were utilised to obtain reliable responses from the interviewees. The researcher also utilised observation as a research instrument. A case study approach within the qualitative paradigm was considered as the most appropriate for the study. The census approach was adopted, since the population of active members in the CPF had decreased. Proper ethical considerations were observed throughout the study. It was apparent from the research findings that the CPF is besieged with enormous challenges, which could affect its effectiveness and sustainability as a crime combating concern, which has a tendency to ultimately erode its crime combating...M.Phil. (Employment Relation