The BSRA security committee regrets to report that our low crime statistics in the first half of the year have taken a beating in September with several attempted housebreakings reported. A man was spotted jumping walls in both Settlers and Louis Streets and another on Napoleon Avenue. There has also been a car theft in Park Avenue, bringing our total incidents to 11 between August and September.
Residents are asked to be vigilant and to take precautions:
Make sure your perimeters are secured, that your alarms are in good working order and your panic buttons work. Switch on beams at all times, even if you leave your house for only five minutes.
There were three incidents of theft reported in August and September. Access was gained through an open kitchen window and a laptop was stolen. Another resident reported two cases of theft. The first instance took place while she was out of town and the second instance a week later when her purse was stolen out of her handbag. Access was gained by lifting the gate off its rails.
Please work with your security companies to identify gaps in your home security and systems. This is for your protection.
Fortunately, we have not seen any violent crime but need to take note that crime appears to be escalating.
It is a good time to strengthen our partnerships with security companies and SAPS to re-establish safety in our suburb. Please consider supporting the Community Police Forum (CPF) which is the civilian engagement with SAPS. These meetings are held on the last Monday of each month. Our BSRA chair, Trishana Moodley, also chairs the CPF Sector 1 meetings.
On reviewing reported crime statistics in our suburb for last year, it shows that with our great partnerships we have managed to keep our incidents fairly low, especially when compared with reported incidents in our neighbouring suburbs.
To help our suburb reduce our crime rate even further, here are safety tips provided by SAPS:
- Know your emergency numbers and contact numbers for neighbours – save these to your phone
- Change remotes of gates and garages and all keys for external doors when you move into new premises
- Also change all remotes and keys after losing them or having them stolen
- Consider also changing remotes and keys when you employ new staff
- Verify background information of any new staff (full names, ID / passport numbers, address, previous work references, next of kin)
- You can also obtain security clearances for new staff – contact your nearest police station for assistance
- When away for extended periods of time, ask your neighbours / friends to keep an eye on your property and to remove any mail / newspapers
- Use lighting to your advantage – lights on outside when it is dark inside will enable you to see what is going on without being observed with the opposite being true (lights on inside with outside lights off put you at a disadvantage)
- If strangers / strange vehicles loiter outside your home, contact your security company and request the “meet and greet” service
- If you see these strangers in front of your property when coming home, drive past your home and return later
- Do not leave tools and ladders lying around in your yard
- Confirm the identity of any visitors, even if you are expecting them – do not allow access to the property until you know who is waiting outside
- When 10 minutes or less from your property, check to see whether you are being followed – call your security company and request “meet and greet” if you are unsure or uneasy
- Stop just inside your gate when entering your premises and wait for the gate to close, before opening your garage or parking
- Keep a fully charged torch next to your bed at night and memorise the location of all fixed panic buttons
- Limit outsider access to private information such as your movements and contents in your home
- If near an ongoing or recent construction project, use home security more frequently and break patterns of your travels to and from home as much as possible (time, duration and frequency)
- Take extra precautions if you operate a business from home, particularly if cash is on hand: consider concealed cash safes, improved lighting, security gates at entrances and vary time for going to the bank to deposit cash.
KNOW YOUR CRIME BUSTING NUMBERS
- Call Crimestop as soon as you see an incident or suspicious activity: 10111
- SAPS sector vehicle numbers for our area: 071 675 7115/6
- JMPD hotline for traffic outages, bylaw infringements, illegal dumping, other traffic matters: 0800 002587 and 011 758 9625
- Randburg station commander, Brigadier Michelle Jones: 082 335 2470
- Vispol commander, Lt Colonel Solomon Mudau: 079 457 8686
- Detective commander, Colonel Moses Mbotho: 078 292 9349
- SAPS sector 1 support, Sergeant Maluleke: 082 413 0144
- Randburg client service center: 011 449 9110/2/5
