African cops learn from Durham (From The Northern Echo)

African cops learn from Durham

6:14pm Thursday 16th February 2012 in Durham City News By Mark Tallentire

WHAT help can bobbies from a leafy university city offer on policing crime-ridden South African townships?

That was the burning question on Thursday, as top cops from Johannesburg and Pretoria turned to Durham Police for advice.

Six senior officers and officials from Gauteng Police Service were out and about in Durham City, hoping to learn how to engage with the public.

A staggering 2.1m crimes are committed in South Africa each year, while County Durham suffers just 10,000.

South Africa witnesses ten murders per day; County Durham less than ten per year.

But Solomon Maila, director of special policing projects for the Gauteng state policing minister, believes there are lessons to be learned.

"The areas are massively different," he said.

"But we are here because we want a fuller sense of how the police here promote relations between themselves and communities."

Durham’s Best Bar None responsible drinking initiative, use of plastic pint glasses, good relations with other authorities and deployment of mobile police stations were particularly impressive, Mr Maila said.

"We are winning the war against crime. We have massively improved.

"Given the history we had where the police were used, pre-1994, as an extension of the repressive arm of government, I can safely say that we have come a long way.

"There was a time in the early 90s when parts of the country were no-go areas but not now."

Paul Anderson, Durham’s neighbourhood inspector, said: "Policing is very similar the world over. They have a lot more crime than us but policing is virtually the same."

The African delegation visited the North-East after reading online about a campaign to make Durham the UK’s safest city. Their tour also includes London, Merseyside and the Netherlands.

"Durham Constabulary has always taken pride in the contact we have with our communities and it is good to hear our efforts are making news thousands of miles away," Insp Anderson said.

Gauteng province is the smallest in South Africa, covering 7,000sq miles, but has 11.1m people, its population is growing fast and it is the country’s economic powerhouse.

The delegation included three high-ranking officers who served as operational commanders at the 2010 World Cup.