ABSTRACT
Community-oriented policing (COP) is an important legislative mandate ascribed to the South African Police Service. The practice of COP includes public forums, or community policing forums (CPFs) where the police and members of the public deliberate crime patterns and areas in need of greater preventative efforts. These policing forums also include neighbourhood watches. The chapter reports on a striking irony whereby largescale discontent with the police has been accompanied by the frequent, cyclical disintegration of public participation in the CPFs. The often very vocal and critical population is also very apathetic when they are required to get involved in crime reduction. There is much in the discourse that circulates through CPF WhatsApp and Facebook groups and in CPF meetings that is problematic and at times deeply disturbing. These discourses range from linking crime to signifiers such as the persecution of the relatively privileged and racist discourse. Despite these difficulties, the concerned public are by no means homogenous, which is a sign of hope. At the same time CPFs remain fragile structures. In light of large-scale apathy, meaningful COP very much depends on the specific individuals involved.
