AfriForum’s specialised response units – or proto teams – have grown by 18 members following the successful completion of the tenth proto team training course this week. This brings these units, which form the front line of AfriForum’s neighbourhood watch response teams, to 180 members.

The civil rights organisation’s division for Community Safety offered this course to the 18 dedicated AfriForum neighbourhood watch volunteers. Neighbourhood watch members from Bronkhorstspruit, Midvaal, Roodepoort and Delmas completed this week’s training.

Proto team members’ specialised training gives them an edge in terms of community safety and their knowledge of, among other things, hand-to-hand combat, bleeding control, securing scenes, setting up roadblocks and tactical firearms handling forms a critical part of their training.

In addition to proto team training, AfriForum also offers weekly online basic neighbourhood watch training. This training covers aspects such as crime scene handling, information gathering, legal aspects and house and home protection. More than 7 000 volunteers have successfully completed this training in the past two years.

At this stage, AfriForum has 172 safety structures nationwide, which function with the help of almost 11 000 volunteers at community level, in neighbourhoods and in rural areas.

“Our proto teams are extremely successful in the fight against crime and are regularly approached by law enforcement agencies, such as the South African Police Service (SAPS), to assist them in operations,” says Jacques Broodryk, AfriForum’s Chief Spokesperson for Community Safety.

“AfriForum is now focusing on accelerating the training of its neighbourhood watch members as the crime situation in the country is deteriorating drastically. That’s why we will continue to provide our neighbourhood watch members with top-quality safety training. The SAPS itself has admitted that it is unable to fulfil its mandate and therefore it is essential for communities to be trained to protect themselves,” concludes Broodryk.

Get involved in your local AfriForum neighbourhood watch. Visit www.afriforumbuurtwag.co.za for more information.