“The Community Service Centre (CSC) is considered to be the central core point of initial cooperation between the public and the police, yet it was in dire need of a makeover,” says Fiona Schwimmbacher, secretary of the Diep River Community Policing Forum (CPF).
Schwimmbacher explains the CPF’s selfless gesture of painting Diep River Police Station late last month.
She says the area is the face of the police station and they felt that giving it a makeover would not just make a difference to the infrastructure, but also to the feel of the environment for those using it.
“It is the first part of the police station the community walks into and a person wants to feel welcome and feel that the CSC has heart. The paint was generously donated by Stuart’s Joinery in Hillstar Road, Wetton.”
Upon receiving the paint, Schwimmbacher says the CPF’s executive committee members, with the help of the sector commanders, painted the CSC.
She says this is one of the organisation’s ongoing mini projects and they are not done yet, as they will continue fixing the rest of the building throughout the year.
Schwimmbacher says: “We are always busy with some small [project] at any given time. Right now we are busy with love boxes to be made up for the Westcott Primary School children and teachers who were involved in an accident last week. As a community, we have a good working relationship with the neighbourhood watches and security providers, all working together with SAPS to fight crime whether it is in forms of awareness projects or physical patrols within our precinct. This builds trust between both the SAPS and the community. We are very lucky to have partnerships in place and extremely thankful for that.”
She says Diep River CPF believes that crime is opportunistic and they seek to remove all the opportunities with the aim of reducing crime. She says they encourage everyone in Diep River to be part of creating a safer environment.
Schwimmbacher says they rely on donations to accomplish their plans and urges anyone who would like help them to email cpfdiepriver177@gmail.com.
“They can get involved either by joining the area’s neighbourhood watch, becoming a SAPS reservist or being a participating member of the CPF as a shareholder.”
Diep River police spokesperson, Constable Zak Marais, says they appreciate the new makeover, as now they can happily serve the community from a more appealing CSC.
