Views of police officials concerning community policing in the Vaalrand area

This article examines the views and perceptions of police officials in the Vaalrand area of Gauteng, South Africa about community policing and Community Police Forums (CPFs). The study posed a number of questions to respondents regarding views on police implementation of community policing, what was their experience or involvement (if any) in its roll-out in their policing area, and solicited views on how to improve existing community policing initiatives in this area. A main conclusion of the research findings being that the police and the community should become more accessible to each other and strive to bridge the gap that traditional policing, as practised in South Africa, had caused.