S T R I C T L Y

C O N F I D E N T I A L
Course Community Patrol Officer
Module: Title Module 1: Community Policing
Sub-Module: Title Module 1b: Sector Policing
Author: © Heinrich J. van Eck
Presented by the
Specialised Tactical Training Institute cc
as community initiative www.stti-sa.com

MODULE 1B: SECTOR POLICING

 S T R I C T L Y
C O N F I D E N T I A L
Course Community Patrol Officer
Module: Title Module 1: Community Policing
Sub-Module: Title Module 1b: Sector Policing
Author: © Heinrich J. van Eck
Presented by the
Specialised Tactical Training Institute cc
as community initiative www.stti-sa.com

Table of Contents
WHAT IS A COMMUNITY POLICING FORUM (CPF)? ............................................................................................... 3
WHAT IS SECTOR POLICING? .................................................................................................................................. 3
ADVANTAGES OF SECTOR POLICING ...................................................................................................................... 4
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE SECTOR COMMANDER? .............................................................................................. 4
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE COMMUNITY? ............................................................................................................. 4
WHY DO WE NEED COMMUNITY POLICING? ......................................................................................................... 4
 S T R I C T L Y
C O N F I D E N T I A L
Course Community Patrol Officer
Module: Title Module 1: Community Policing
Sub-Module: Title Module 1b: Sector Policing
Author: © Heinrich J. van Eck
Presented by the
Specialised Tactical Training Institute cc
as community initiative www.stti-sa.com

WHAT IS A COMMUNITY POLICING FORUM (CPF)?

The community, the police and local government need to join forces and fight crime together. Because this is a
group of people from different communities and police representatives who need to discuss safety problems
in their communities and plan projects, they also need a place to meet. They need to start a Community Police
Forum (CPF). A Community Policing Forum (CPF) means a forum established in terms of Section 19(1) of the
SAPS Act 68 of 1995. Section 18 – 23 of this act entails community policing.

A CPF also aims at ensuring police accountability, transparency and effectiveness in the community. A
Community Police Forum (CPF) consists of organizations and institutions such as schools, ratepayers
associations, civic organizations, businesses and religious institutions, working in partnership with the local
police. The purpose of a CPF is to create and maintain a safe and secure environment for citizens living in the
CPF's area.

Community policing is what makes a police service different from a police force. As it is today, police work with
the community - we would rather solve the problem than arrest the person. It is a partnership between the
South African Police Service (SAPS) and the community, two entities with a single aim: to rid the area of
crime. In terms of any partnership, both sides see that each is working honorably. That's the spirit of
community policing forums. The CPF develops yearly community safety plans, which identify priorities and
needs for the area. These priorities and needs are set by the community, through the CPF, and form part of the
local police station's operational plan. A CPF may also plan and implement its own safety projects, and can
apply to the provincial government for funding for these projects.

Station Commissioners of local police stations are responsible for establishing CPFs in their areas. Each CPF has
its own constitution (based on a uniform constitution) and aims, and may also have Sub-Forums with specific
aims. An Executive Committee of the CPF has to be elected regularly. The Station Commissioner must always
be a member of the Executive Committee, but neither the chairperson nor deputy-chairperson may be police
members.

WHAT IS SECTOR POLICING?

Sector policing is an approach to policing whereby the service area of a police station is divided into smaller,
manageable areas known as sectors. The primary purpose is to involve the community in the role of policing.
It's a combination of community initiatives such as block watches and neighborhood watches, but the police
come into the equation.

For each sector, the SAPS appoint a police official who is known as the sector commander. The community and
its sector commander are active partners in ensuring local safety and security. The sector commander involves
all role-players in identifying the policing needs in the sector; and dealing with the root causes of crime and
factors that contribute to crime. The goal is to bring about effective crime prevention by launching
intelligence-driven crime prevention projects in partnership with the local community.

People must know to phone the SAPS in charge of their sector when they see something suspicious. What
generally happens after a hijacking or a rape is that somebody will say 'I saw a car and it looked suspicious'.
That information must pass up the line - hopefully before an incident happens. When sector policing works, it
works very well. There have been some great successes.
 S T R I C T L Y
C O N F I D E N T I A L
Course Community Patrol Officer
Module: Title Module 1: Community Policing
Sub-Module: Title Module 1b: Sector Policing
Author: © Heinrich J. van Eck
Presented by the
Specialised Tactical Training Institute cc
as community initiative www.stti-sa.com

ADVANTAGES OF SECTOR POLICING

Sector Policing is a practical form of community policing as it:

Involves policing smaller, more manageable areas;

Ensures more effective crime prevention, attention is given to the causes of crime and the factors and
circumstances that allow crime to take place in a sector;
Contributes to community involvement, which leads to sound partnerships between the police and
the community;
Encourages and enables communities to take greater responsibility for their own safety and security;
Improves the relationship between the police and the community, which increases the community’s
trust in, respect for and understanding of the police, reduces the fear of crime and improves service
delivery by the police;
And it is policing at its most basic!

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE SECTOR COMMANDER?

The sector commander must –

Implement short-term, medium-term and long-term strategies to eradicate the factors that
contribute to crime;
Report identified problems at the daily Station Crime Forum (SCF) meetings to launch crime-
prevention strategies or projects to deal with those issues;
Gather the necessary information to develop and implement effective and practical crime-prevention
strategies for the sector;
Mobilise and organise the community to jointly act against local crime;
Act as liaison between the community and the local police station;
As a crime prevention officer, he/she is responsible for the plans and projects to address crime in the
sector.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE COMMUNITY?

Community members must attend Community Policing Sub-Forum (Sector Policing Forum) meetings
to discuss action plans with the sector commander in order to deal with crime in the sector;
Launch and participate in initiatives to safeguard the community;
Provide information and inputs to prevent crime in the sector;
Actively support sector policing by volunteering their services to the sector;
Local businesses, councillors, resident associations and community leaders are called upon to
participate in all efforts to deal with factors that contribute to crime in the sector.

WHY DO WE NEED COMMUNITY POLICING?

Community policing brings the police and the community together in a partnership to solve problems of crime.
If we work together, we can make our community a safe place to play, work and live in. People often begin to
feel threatened in their own homes and streets. Some residents will start talking about the need for a closer
relationship with the police in their community. Other residents might believe that the police need to care
more about their perceived needs. Sometimes they want the police to listen and react to them in a more
visible and open way and to take action in a way that the community understands.
 S T R I C T L Y
C O N F I D E N T I A L
Course Community Patrol Officer
Module: Title Module 1: Community Policing
Sub-Module: Title Module 1b: Sector Policing
Author: © Heinrich J. van Eck
Presented by the
Specialised Tactical Training Institute cc
as community initiative www.stti-sa.com

Some community members might also want to hear more directly from the police about police action against
crime in their communities. Some policemen and women might know very well that people in their
communities express unhappiness about crime. Sometimes even the police themselves might feel that the
problem is too big for them to solve on their own and that they cannot respond properly to each and every
complaint. When these perceptions arise among community members and ordinary policemen and women, it
is a good time for everyone to come together and help each other to make the community a safer place in
which to work and to live.

Yet - in some communities - when many residents are very poor and cannot get jobs, a few desperate people
can easily turn to crime and even violence to survive. Some police officers then feel that they don’t have the
authority to deal directly with issues of poverty and joblessness in their communities. This is another good
reason for the police and the residents to come together and find ways to improve their lives, because this will
prevent crime. Community policing is the best answer to a safer community, because it helps the community
and the police to join hands against crime. When we talk to each other, we learn a lot about crime and its
causes. Together, we can also plan the best solutions.

The Constitution prescribes Community Policing as the style of policing to be adopted by the South African
Police Service to meet the safety and security requirements of all people in the country. Fundamental
transformation is therefore needed to ensure that the SAPS develops into a community-oriented policing
service which adopts a consultative approach to meeting the safety and security needs of the communities it
serves; a service which therefore becomes more accessible and acceptable and more efficient and effective.