Malvern Community Police Forum
1) Who We Are
This Privacy Policy describes how Malvern Community Police Forum (“MCPF”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) collects, uses, discloses, and protects personal information when you use our digital services, including our website, patrol booking portal, and WhatsApp communications.
Contact: info@malverncpf.co.za
2) Scope
This policy applies to users who access our services via the web portal and/or interact with us on WhatsApp using our WhatsApp number.
3) Information We Collect
- Account & Identification: name, callsign, user type (e.g., Romeo/Precinct), contact details (e.g., phone number), and password hash.
- Patrol Activity: patrol date, start/end time, total patrol duration, incident submissions, photos you upload, and related metadata.
- Technical: device/browser info, IP address, timestamps, cookies or similar technologies for session management and security.
- WhatsApp Interactions: message content you send to us and delivery metadata processed by Meta Platforms through the WhatsApp Cloud API.
4) How We Use Information
- Authenticate users and operate patrol booking and reporting features.
- Record patrol times and incident reports, and generate patrol summaries.
- Send service notifications (e.g., booking confirmations) via WhatsApp or the portal.
- Maintain security, prevent fraud/abuse, and comply with laws.
- Improve our services and compile anonymised statistics.
5) Legal Bases
We process personal information based on one or more of the following: (a) your consent; (b) performance of a contract or steps at your request; (c) compliance with legal obligations; (d) our legitimate interests in operating a safe and effective community patrol service. We align with applicable laws such as South Africa’s POPIA and, where applicable, the GDPR.
7) Retention
We retain personal information only as long as necessary for the purposes described above (e.g., to maintain patrol history) and to meet legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. We apply deletion or anonymisation thereafter.
8) Security
We use technical and organisational measures to protect personal information (e.g., access controls, encryption in transit, least-privilege access). No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure; we continually improve our safeguards.
9) Your Rights
Subject to applicable law, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or restrict processing of your personal information, and to object to certain processing. To exercise these rights, contact us at info@malverncpf.co.za.
10) Children’s Privacy
Our services are not directed to children under the age of 13 (or higher age where required by law). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children without appropriate consent.
12) Whatsapp Communications
When you interact with us via WhatsApp, your messages are processed by Meta Platforms in accordance with the WhatsApp Terms and Privacy Policy. We may use templated notifications (e.g., patrol booking confirmations) and your replies to manage your patrol activities. Standard messaging rates may apply.
13) Changes To This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the updated version with a new effective date. Material changes may also be communicated via the portal or WhatsApp.
14) Contact Us
If you have questions or requests regarding this Privacy Policy, contact us at info@malverncpf.co.za.