Neighbourhood Watch - St Francis Bay Residents Association

A recent Sector Police Forum meeting revealed once again that only a handful of residents get involved in assisting the Neighbourhood Watch and SAPS to deter crime in the community. This has placed an onerous physical and financial workload on NHW members considering an average patrol can reach 40 kilometres and fuel prices are continually increasing.

The proposed solution to this problem is to call on the St Francis Bay community to assist in crime prevention. If this were achieved, through the on-going surveillance by each member of the community during their daily activities, car patrols could be dispensed with or, at the very least; a drastic reduction in patrolling would result.

It must be borne in mind that crime prevention in a residential community is a shared responsibility between SAPS and the local community. The part played by the community is to ensure their properties are adequately safeguarded and to report any suspicious activity they may note anywhere in the village or near their homes.

Breaking and entering (the unlawful entry into a residence to commit a theft) is the key activity of a neighbourhood watch programme and is the one major crime that CAN be effectively countered by positive residential action. This would entail the cooperation of each resident to ensure the following:

a) Make your home less inviting as a target for criminals by installing any, or all, of security lighting, alarm systems, watch dogs, fences and security walls. External perimeter beams are proving very effective in this respect.
b) Vary your daily routine and ensure communication procedures and telephone numbers, including police, security firm and neighbourhood watch, are readily available in your home and on your person.
c) Implement access and key controls.
d) Be aware of any suspicious activity in your neighbourhood or the village and report such activity to the police and security companies. Keep telephone numbers of all security companies, as each has consented to respond whether or not it is a client of theirs.
e) If you wish, you can informally assist Neighbourhood Watch by simply parking your car and observing surrounding activity. The police and Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator can advise on areas of concern.
f) Speak to your neighbours about being mutually supportive in keeping watch for each other.
g) Be particularly suspicious of loiterers and observe any building activity going on around you. Building developments sometimes contain surveillance spies keeping a watchful eye on the comings and goings of people in the vicinity of the building project.
h) Be committed to report any crime or suspicious activity, however trivial it may appear to you.
i) Updated news on crime will appear monthly on the Residents Association website at www.sfbresidents.org and daily in The Milkwoodspeaks. Contact Johan Dippenaar at editor@themilkwoodspeaks.co.za to receive a daily copy of The Milkwoodspeaks

We do not require you to perform special tasks, attend meetings or take on extra responsibilities. The Neighbourhood Watch car patrols are voluntary and we only require that each resident, in the interests of their own and others’ safety, be on the alert as a matter of course during the day and night.