GEORGE NEWS - An anti-crime drive held from 19:00 on Friday night, which saw role players jointly patrolling the streets of George, had the desired effect in that there is now a declared intention for closer cooperation between AfriForum's Neighbourhood Watch, the local police, security companies and George's neighbourhood watch organisations.
AfriForum Chairman Elmar Stander said, "We intend to form a WhatsApp group for the participants of Friday's security patrols so that we can exchange information about criminal activities like the suspicious car that was seen moving between suburbs."
It was however, not without initial problems with AfriForum's National Head of Community Safety Ian Cameron saying that George Cluster Commander Major-General Oswald Redy "rejects community participation in the fight against crime". This followed after Major-General Redy apparently queried AfriForum's membership of the Community Police Forum (CPF) and the right to carry out a citizen's arrest if they spot criminals in the act.
On Monday this week, Donovan Gultig, project coordinator of the CPF, said Major-General Redy would like a meeting with AfriForum so that the finer details of their joint modus operandi could be discussed.
Success
Bergsig Crime Spotters Chairman James Shackleton said that all the patrols gathered at 23:00 on Friday to discuss what they had found and then went out to patrol the hotspots as identified earlier.
"Although no incidents worth reporting occurred, we did identify a solution to the trend of suspect vehicles coming into areas. An idea was mooted that all the neighbourhood watches report to a central database (with Elmar Stander) on suspect vehicles seen in their areas. Elmar can then hand over the information to the police, who can then deal with the matter further.
"We feel the initiative was successful in that it brought many of the role players together in the fight against crime. A WhatsApp group for local participants to alert one another of incidents will be formed."
Stander said AfriForum's Neighbourhood Watch group intended to ignore the so-called instruction that they could patrol, but not detain or arrest suspects seen in the act of a contact crime.
It was impossible to ascertain what Redy's stance on the mass patrol and cooperation with civilians and AfriForum specifically is, as neither Redy nor Police Spokesman Captain Malcolm Pojie replied to our inquiries before going to press. It is however possible that the strong worded press release issued by AfriForum on Friday afternoon in which Cameron took Redy to task just hours before the planned mass patrol, was based on a misunderstanding. Cameron wrote: "Despite a 7% rise in contact crimes in the Western Cape, Major-General Redy rejects community participation in the fight against crime. AfriForum however, said they will go ahead with their community patrols tonight, despite Major-General Redy's opinion and statements."
Captain Louis Boshoff, who was on duty during the patrols, was profusely thanked for his excellent support during the exercise.
On Friday, representatives of AfriForum’s Neighbourhood Watch, security companies, the police and Bergsig Neighbourhood Watch and Blanco Neighbourhood Watch gathered at 19:00 at the York Street Checkers where they discussed the modus operandi for the evening. Patrols were held from 19:30 until 03:00 the next morning.
ARTICLE: PAULINE LOURENS, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST
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