Combatting Crime

The second police and public relations committee (PPRC) meeting of this year was held on February 24th at the newly built police board room. These meetings are open to the public, so anyone can become a member and contribute to the important discussions that occur. The first discussion point on the agenda was the Luderitz Youth Against Crime (LYAC) committee being established, as the relationship between then PPRC and LYAC is vital when it comes to making the Ludritz community safe. The potential LYAC members met on March 5th to discuss how they can assist Luderitz, and the role they will play within the town as voluntary informers for the police. The requirement to become a member include being able to read and write, completion of grades 10 and 12 are an advantage but not a necessity, and being involved in a voluntary programme like this can lead to becoming a member of the police force but it is not a guarantee. The members will receive a month’s training to teach them how to approach incidents, how to report incidents to the police and how to arrest culprits if the needs be. For future PPRC meeting s it was discussed that the Public Prosecutor or one his staff should attend the meeting to provide legal advice, to accommodate this the meetings will now be held on Fridays.
The PPRC meeting also arranged a meeting for the wider community on April 11th at 14:00 at Benguela Community centre to discuss police matters within Luderitz.