An evidence-based social crime prevention approach for community participation in the prevention of violent crime

Abstract

High levels of violent crime in South Africa have been threatening the country’s social, economic and democratic gains since the first democratic election in 1994. Crime statistics dated March 2022, yielded by the South African Police Service (SAPS), reveal that the Western Cape had the highest number of murders (3 848) in the country. Various crime strategies have been proposed, including the establishment of Community Policing Forums (CPFs). CPFs in the Western Cape adopted community policing and social crime prevention approaches to contribute to the prevention of violent crime but to no avail. This study attempted to identify the causes for this failure with the intention of proposing an alternative approach aimed at reducing the high levels of violent crime. Two CPFs, established in Nyanga and Mitchell’s Plain, were selected for evaluation.A mixed-method approach was adopted, which included a close-ended questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews. The findings arising from the analysis of the results of the questionnaire survey with purposively selected CPF representatives were validated with the responses from four purposively selected practitioners, who were recognised as knowledgeable authorities within the community policing discipline, through semi-structured interviews. The questionnaire survey revealed several individual and institutional capacity challenges to fulfilling their mandate and these findings were validated by the four purposively selected knowledgeable persons regarded as experts on policing. The study revealed that the two selected CPFs currently administer and implement crime prevention approaches to prevent violent crime. The article proposes an Evidence-Based Policing Social Crime Prevention (EBSCP) approach for CPF participation in the prevention of violent crime.