BY JOHN CHRISMA
MEMBERS of the New Zealand Camp community crime prevention group, east of Honiara have been visible across their communities with the authorization and guidance from the Royal Solomon Island Police Force during the weekend lockdown exercise operation on 29 – 31 August.
New Zealand Camp Community Crime Prevention Committee Member, Claudio Donna told Sunday Isles that it is their duty and responsibility to assist the police and to prevent crimes occurring throughout the 36hrs lockdown period within their community.
“On the current establishment as crime prevention and policing group within our community, we have noticed the significant success in preventing crime to a certain level during the lockdown.
“I would like to say that the work carried out by our group is outstanding and decreases crime the police have struggled with for many years,” Donna added.
He described that everything was run smoothly during the first night of the lockdown starting from 6 pm on Sunday except for on Monday when they managed to spot a duo consuming Kwaso (banned homebrew) in a roadside market stall at Sun Valley.
“Since we were mandated to exercising our duty during the lockdown period, we quickly called for Police backup to the particular area which resulted in their arrest.”
He said that since it’s a mock lockdown exercise, they are trying their best to work closely with the police especially to create an understanding among the residents to abide by strict health regulations that will save their lives if there was a possibility of an outbreak of the covid virus within the community.
The New Zealand Camp Community Crime Prevention Committee was established at the beginning of last year (2020). The establishment was made possible through a signed agreement between the community and Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) to help in mitigating the risk of criminal and illicit activities within the community.
Donna said the relationship between police and New Zealand Camp Community is very helpful in terms of crime reduction.
“The community is now well organized to implement the current Crime Prevention Strategy. We support the police by dealing with some small problems in our community of New Zealand Camp. For the bigger issues that are beyond us, we call the police to arrest and charge those responsible.”
The Royal Solomon Island Police Force National Crime Prevention Department (NCPD) has established 33 crime prevention committees (CPC) within communities in the three constituencies of Honiara City.
The crime prevention committees were established to prevent crime from happening in the communities. The CPC in each community will work together with the police and report any crime happening in their community.
