WINDHOEK – The Namibian Police and the British High Commission in Namibia launched the first of two “interactive billboards” that aim to encourage the public to work together with the police to prevent crime in neighbourhoods.
“The billboards are the result of Nampol efforts to encourage members of the public to give crime the boot through community policing by establishing and becoming members of a neighbourhood watch,” said Inspector-General of the Namibian Police, Sebastian Ndeitunga, at the occasion.
“Our people need to walk freely in their neighbourhoods without fear of being murdered, raped, robbed or attacked,” he said, adding that an effective way to prevent crime is through the proactive involvement and participation of members of the public in community policing countrywide.
According to him through community policing a relationship between the police and the community has now developed into a partnership, something that never existed before independence.
“Stakeholders such as traditional leaders, churches and community leaders, business communities, NGOs and neighbourhood watch groups against crime have decided to assist the police proactively in crime prevention efforts,” he said.
Ndeitunga said for the past two decades the police worked in partnership with various entities in the country and abroad and good partnerships were established with Bramshill College of Policing in Hampshire, the United Kingdom.
The British High Commission in Namibia availed N$243 700 to support the rollout campaign of community policing in the country and assisted with production of information and training materials for communities nationwide, including awareness-raising billboards in the capital.
At the occasion British High Commissioner to Namibia, Marianne Young, emphasized that the British High Commission looked forward to supporting the initiative and would bring police experts to Namibia this year to assist the strategy.
“We hope that this support and the ongoing Anglo-Namibia partnership will help spread the word and engagement with this successful security initiative – so that in a few weeks’ time all Namibians, and all police officers in particular, can learn more about the importance of community policing and the role everybody is being encouraged to play to help prevent crime in communities,” she said.
Nampol is renting two billboards, one at Eros Primary School in Robert Mugabe Avenue for a period of six months, and the other in Mahatma Gandhi Street for three months which will subsequently be mounted at the Windhoek Prison grounds.
By Kuzeeko Tjitemisa