Building partnerships with SAPS, Steenberg Police Station

Today a group of our school principals met with a group of policemen at Steenberg Police station. The Station superintendent initiated the meeting to inform the principals about the their response to the raging taxi war in the area and to listen to the concerns of the principals.

Top frame: a few of our school heads at the end of the meeting. Bottom: The superintendent and his colleagues who initiated the meeting.

The police and the school heads share the same objective: to ensure that the community and in particular, the learners have a safe, healthy environment. It sometimes takes a crisis like the taxi war and violence that erupted again last week, to bring the two role players in the same space.

 

At the end of the meeting, the group had agreed to have a monthly meeting to discuss issues of safety. We have also extended an invitation to SAPS to attend our Principals' meetings and our Safer Schools Forums. These baby steps will help us to work collaboratively. For now there is political will.

 

The success of this much-needed partnership rests on the commitment of the schools and the Police officers of both the Muizenberg and Steenberg stations. We have to combine forces to fight the destructive elements that erode the souls of communities.

 

Posted with Blogsy