ONGWEDIVA - The active relationship between the Oshana police and community members within various locations has reduced crimes significantly.

Oshana police commander, Commissioner Naftal Sackaria, was impressed with how community members of Oshopala, Emono, Omavela, Okaandolopa, Ompundja, Oshandubala, Uuvudhiya and Omaapopo locations continue to assist the police force in reducing crime within their locations and neighbouring areas.

He added that since being appointed in that role a little over a year ago, he has engaged with various stakeholders and different role- players to fight crime through community-oriented policing.

“We spoke to different people with different needs in order to determine what the community needs so that we can plan according to the needs of the community members, and solve those problems together with our community,” he stated.

Sackaria highlighted that the feedback strategy within the crime investigation division has likewise improved.

“We have established community groups in all the locations, and neighbourhood watches in most of the areas. We even established a neighbourhood watch in Anghambya, a no-go area previously, but today we have people there communicating with us when crimes are being committed. The number of incidents has significantly reduced in that area,” he noted. Sackaria said there has been an improvement in terms of reported crime and detected crime.

“People do not make any difference between the two. Reported crime is what we receive when something happened, and people come and make cases at the charge office. Detected crime is when a crime is detected, and the police go to the public with undercover operations and public outreach. We want this to increase,” said the commander.

He noted that there is a decrease in reported crime, and it is an achievement.

“All this could not have been achieved if not for our excellent joint efforts from you - our members on the ground. We want to make Oshana crime-free,” said an upbeat Sackaria.