Community Policing Forums and $$$

[Quintrix]

Recently noticed an advert by my local CPF -

"Thanks for joining - you now enjoy the benefits of a member "

The joining part includes a monthly contribution/membership fee.

Is this happening elsewhere or even legal ?

 

[Hemi300c]

Only if it is a registered 21 company.
Otherwise they can only charge for boards and radios with ICASA license fee.

 

[Wyzak]

Why would a private organisation with a membership fee not be legal?

 

[Quintrix]

Why would a private organisation with a membership fee not be legal?

I'm am sure a private organisation with membership fee may be legal - this is a community policing forum, not a private organisation or am I missing something?

 

[Quintrix]

Only if it is a registered 21 company.
Otherwise they can only charge for boards and radios with ICASA license fee.

Hemi, if 21 - would this change them to something similar to an armed response group - attend to subscriber calls?

 

[mh348]

Hemi, if 21 - would this change them to something similar to an armed response group - attend to subscriber calls?

It's voluntary, so community members on patrol/receive the call would respond. Not a replacement for Armed response or police. The membership fees are probably to cover costs such as radios and maybe services of a third party security company.

I know of an area(suburb) that has a private security company that patrols at night, community members have to contribute monthly to pay for this service. The also have neighbourhood watch / cpf.

 

[HavocXphere]

Only if it is a registered 21 company.
Otherwise they can only charge for boards and radios with ICASA license fee.

Nope. s21 companies can charge you for rays of sunshine if they like. (That particular example might be difficult to enforce though if it goes to court)

The main limitation is on their ability to pull money out of the company...like a dividends. And if you can't pay dividends then there is no point in making a profit...so most are structured in a way that results in income and expenses being equal.