RUNDU – The Rundu police station is gearing itself up to host a workshop on community policing at the end of the month.
Under its policing forum, the two-day workshop is billed for 31 October – 1 November.
Station commander Chief Inspector Paulus Hauwanga said they have invited various stakeholders to attend the workshop.
“We have mobilised our Rundu community through our community policing and liaison officer, and we are expecting the networks against crime which are the businessman network, the pastors network, the women and men network with the youth network, neighbourhood watches like the recently registered very active neighbourhood watch for Queens Park and Tutungeni residential areas,” he said.
“We have invited our main stakeholder which is the ministry of gender and they will bring in the aspect of gender-based violence so that we can engage the community and the police on that platform, on how we can fight gender-based violence along with other social ills.”
According to Hawanga, this workshop will also enlighten the community on the police’s new policy of community policing which now requires them to have a community policing forum at the station level which in this case is the Rundu Police Station Community Policing Forum, which is being chaired by the station commander.
“The workshop programme is already drafted and we are expecting our Rundu Urban councillor Victoria Kauma to officiate our workshop, as well as deliver a message along with our regional commander, Commissioner Johanna Ngondo, who will come deliver a speech on behalf of the inspector general on the relevance of the workshop. Local community leaders will also give remarks on the importance of the community in working with the police in the fight against crime,” he noted.
“We have also analysed crimes that are happening around our town and we want to come engage the community who are going to be participants of this workshop, together with the police officers who are doing crime prevention and those doing operational duties. We want the community to know how to assist our officers who are doing operations, for example,” he continued.
Hawanga said participants from different networks against crime will be profiled and be given network cards and identification after the workshop.
“And only those that will attend the workshop will be registered because we don’t want random people to claim to be partners to fight crime but then at the same time they are the ones committing crime, so this workshop will prepare them,” he said.