School children in the Northern Areas are waking up to the comforting sight of the Metro Police Force as the City is slowly venturing into the crime ridden community to provide police visibility in the area.
Metro Police cars quietly rolled into the feared streets of Gelvandale and Helenvale in the past two days as part of a newly launched daily routine patrol in the area to monitor these communities.
The penetration in the area is for now an exercise to provide police visibility and to interact with the community.
An unannounced visit at Hillcrest, Bayview and Helenvale Primary Schools today was welcomed by the school children and teachers, as our team moved around the neighbourhood monitoring the perimeter fence of all three schools.
While a full-on crime fighting operation is still on the cards, stop and search operations will resume as the team will soon be beefed up for extra security.
The Northern Areas are a known crime spot due to the high concentration of gangsters in the area. Fatal shootings, drug dealing and the wanton terrorism of innocent people makes these neighbourhoods some of the most feared and dangerous in the Metro.
By deploying our teams in the area, we are reaffirming our commitment as this government in reclaiming our streets and to rid our society of lawlessness.
While the Metro Police cannot fight the scourge in the area alone, our presence in the area should send a clear message to gangsters that we will not be deterred in our efforts to keep our streets safe.
Our teams have also visited Gelvandale High School to talk to the pupils and teachers, and to create awareness to the community about the importance of their role in working with law enforcement to fight crime in the area.
The deployment of our teams in these areas is in line with our promise of creating a safe city where children can play safely