Abstract
Community police forums (CPFs) have surely played a key role in the fight against crime in South Africa. This study looks at how community policing participation has been declining. There are still significant factors causing the CPF's membership to fall, which limits their ability to effectively combat crime in South Africa. Examining the reasons why members of community are joining the Community Policing Forum to fight crimes was, thus, the main objective of the study. To achieve this, a qualitative research design was employed in the study. To choose respondents, deliberate sampling was used. Semi-structured interview questions were employed to guarantee that the respondents gave truthful responses. Additionally, observation was employed as a study method. The census method was employed since the CPF has fewer active members. Appropriate ethical concerns were followed throughout the investigation. The findings indicate that poor leadership, a lack of community support despite the risks, and an increasing workload for community police officers were the main causes of the participation drop. Issue 2/2025 651