Napier Police Station and the Napier Community Policing Forum recently relaunched the Napier Police Victim Empowerment Room (VEP Room), which was made possible by the Overberg District Municipality. The VEP Room was recently revamped to adhere to specific requirements regulating VEP rooms.
“It is time for the police and the community to join forces so the people of Napier can feel safer, but this can only happen when there is a relationship of trust and respect,” Brigadier Donovan Heilbron, Cluster Commander of the Overberg, said.
“We cannot change the South African police, but we can change Napier police, so let’s make a difference here in Napier.”
According to him the police are committed to improving their services to victims of crime at all police stations and relevant units.
“The privacy of a victim must be protected by interviewing them in private, either in a victim-friendly room (VFR) situated at the police station or, in the absence of a VFR, in an alternative room at the police station where a victim can be interviewed in private.
This empowerment service must be offered to a victim in order to protect their right to privacy.
“Victims of crime, especially sexual offences and other serious and violent crimes, have the right to be treated with fairness, respect, dignity and in private when reporting a crime,” Heilbron explained. “Victims have the right to a victim-friendly service.”