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COMMUNITIES need to get involved in the fight against crime. This was the call of the Democratic Alliance when it held a meeting in the Ottery Multipurpose Centre on Friday afternoon to discuss ways of fighting crime.

Roy Jankielsohn, DA Member of Parliament and former spokesperson for safety and security, said that the main cause of crime in the Western Cape is gangsterism. He said that children raised without strong family values are looking to gangsters for role models.

"Part of the solution is to get religious groups and schools involved in combating this problem. We need to rebuild structures in communities. We need positive role models for these youths to look up to."

He added that poor training and low morale within the SA Police Service are contributing towards the crime rate. "They work under huge stress and do not get support from management."

But the public also play their part, Jankielsohn said, stating that only 50 percent of all crimes are reported to the police. "If you want the government to increase police resources, you need to report every crime. Always make sure that you get a case number."

The community needs to fill the gap of inadequate policing resources, Jankielsohn said. "More neighbourhood policing needs to be implemented. We have a shortage of visible policing."

JP Smith, chairperson of the City of Cape Town's safety and security portfolio committee, said that, due to a shortage of funding, the city would not be increasing its Metro Police force in the foreseeable future.

Calling for more community crime-fighting initiatives, Smith, who is also councillor for the Atlantic Seaboard area, said that his area had developed a "Yellow Bib" project to combat crimes such as drug dealing and prostitution.

"We patrol the streets and stare the criminals down. You don?t drive the criminals away, but rather the customers." Also present at the meeting was Charl Viljoen, chapter leader of Guardian Angels, an organisation that patrols the streets.

"We need to get our communities mobilised," Viljoen said. "There is only so much that the police can do.""

Part of the solution is to get religious groups and schools involved in combating this problem. We need to rebuild structures in the communities

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