Ngangue : Decreasing Violence, Robbery

Residents of the Ngangue neighbourhood in Douala have for some time now been enjoying a decreasing wave of violence, crime and robbery. This follows the establishment and effective deployment of communal vigilantes with the capacity to arrest criminals from hideouts. 
“Our properties, especially household items are safe; even valuable objects which we never used to allow outside, when these remain outside the house a whole night we still find them where we left or forgot them,” Derrick Tarla, resident of Ngangue, told Cameroon Tribune. 
“It’s about two years ago that I have noticed that nothing gets missing in our compound; no shrill cry for help due to assault or even a missing gas bottle as it used to be,” Claudette Nkeke, said. She again said, “I have received notes – written and stamped – by the quarter head from the hands of communal vigilantes informing all in the neighbourhood of their presence and walking around at nights to ensure security, and requesting a minimal voluntary contribution of at least FCFA 1,000 per month to support the effort of these guys who avail their lives for the security of all. I feel a positive change in the security levels, before we could not allow even shoes outside.”
It is common to find ropes tied across roads at entrance points to Ngangue usually from 10pm to 5am. Red pieces of clothes are attached to the ropes to draw the attention of road users to their presence. At both ends of the ropes are two vigilantes whose job is to quiz all entering the quarter by automobiles and ensure that suspects are arrested and handed to the Police. In the same way, some of them parade the neighbourhood discreetly spotting suspects and alerting ...