Police Public Relations Committee

Dear Swakopmund Resident, The Police Public Relations Committee was established in August 2016 and consists of members of the business community, municipality, social works, teachers, prisons as well as the police from both the Swakopmund and Mondesa station. It is important to take crime seriously in this day and age.
One of the first considerations discussed was the need for cameras in our town. Some of the public requested for a City Police and we started looking into this. The City Police in Windhoek is a burden to the Municipality of Windhoek and it was our aim to not have this happen to Swakopmund. PPRC put heads together as a community and looked at the following:
Project funding – We thought the only way funding this initiative would be through monthly adding N$10.00 onto rate payers accounts. With this the community has also into and ownership in this. A Safety and security line will be added on the municipal account.
The Municipality would be the custodian of the funds and pay out invoices as submitted by the PPRC.
Every quarter the financials will be published so the community can see what is being done with the funds.
With Crime Prevention Officers we looked at criminal hotspots and 55 sites were identified as Phase 1.
PPRC then did a test run of cameras for the month of December by installing cameras at Pick & Pay – during this time no incidents were reported as well as the street kids had abandoned this area. This showed the PPRC that this is a must.
Phase 1:
55 Dome cameras and 8 will be installed in current hotspots identified as:
CBD Swakopmund, Kramersdorf, Vineta, Oceanview and Mile 4 – currently only hotspots – Residential areas will be blocked out and only street view will show.
Town entrances are also an important area to cover. In recent times incidents have happened and no footage is available to assist the police.
It was also identified that areas in DRC, Mondesa and Tamariskia have open areas which cause stress.
A lot of our employees are surprised in these areas with cell phones stolen etc. PPRC then also thought is good to have some open areas covered to safeguard against this.
A control room needs to be established for the 24/7 monitoring of the cameras and call outs made to the relevant authorities.
A control room can be established at the Swakopmund Fire station with one number for emergencies. 6 staff will initially be employed to do the monitoring. Close working relationships will be sought between Neighbourhood Watch, Security companies and the Police Force to make this work and all to know.
Once approval has been granted a Code of Conduct as well as Operational Procedures will be available advising on guidelines and how privacy is protected.
Phase 2:
Additional cameras as identified can be installed to eventually cover our neighbourhoods.
Additional members for the control room might be needed with additional equipment
A Courage Fund, anonymous tip off fund, may be established encouraging the public to report crimes and upon verification a bonus is paid out.
Maybe vehicles need to be purchased to assist the police or with call outs.
We request the public to support our project to have a safe and secure Swakopmund for all.
PPRC AIM:
1. Assist with Crime prevention – Cameras can be a deterrent to thieve
2. Useful piece of evidence – when a crime was committed and a person caught on camera, extra evidence can be submitted in court
3. Help law enforcement solve crime – footage can be released soonest to apprehend the perpetrator
4. High risk areas can be monitored to free police to concentrate on other areas
5. Working relationship – law enforcement and private securities can respond to an emergency when alerted and have information about what to look for when they arrive.

We see this project as a community project and therefore request the community to support this with the payment of N$10.00 monthly on their municipal account. We all need to stand together to have a safe community.