Minister leads safety workshop

GEORGE NEWS - A safety workshop led by Minister Dan Plato was held at the police's Eden Cluster building in Heatherlands on Saturday 1 September.

The Eden Cluster Commander, Major-General Oswald Reddy, Eden District Municipality's Disaster Management, the Cluster CPF chairperson, station commanders, Vispol heads, public relations officers, VEP coordinators, CPFs and members of neighbourhood watches attended the workshop.

Plato's spokesperson, Ewald Botha, said this consultative safety workshop aims to assist CPFs and NHWs to function optimally through dissemination of crucial information and small group discussions on how to improve functionality and access funding.

"Presentations done by the Department of Community safety include those on role clarification between NHWs and CPFs, while crime trends are also presented by the police and an overview of sector policing provided."

Plato also met with the relevant Walking Bus members of Knysna on Monday 3 September at Concordia Primary to check in with the dedicated volunteers who are working to increase learner safety while walking to and from school every day. Later that evening he also met with the Knysna CPF and NHW structures to discuss general safety concerns.

Among topics of discussion were the functions of the CPFs, as well as the proposed reviews and changes to the Police Act to ensure that the CPFs become more functional and sustainable, thus making them more relevant in their communities.

The George Herald requested more information from minister Plato's office, as the workshop was not open to the public, but no response was received by the time of going to print.

The workshop was well attended by representatives from concerned parties.