Early December saw a spike in wall-jumping incidents in Doringkloof.  In one case a wall-jumper was chased from a property by “calling security”.

This same criminal then appeared in another property 8 minutes later. Clearly displacing the criminal didn’t stop the crime… it transferred crime to other residents.

Criminals should be apprehended, not re-arranged…. We fail to act at our peril.

It was clearly time to remind residents of the highly successful “community action drill” DNW developed a decade ago, to swiftly bring such criminals to justice.

On 23 Dec, members of the Doringkloof community gathered in our Jansen Park, where DNW’s seasoned experts Mr. Martin Rutsch, Japie van Der Westhuizen, Phillie Jansen Van Vuuren took community members through a play-by-play of the tactics, on an Urban “game-board”, laid out for the event.

The vital points of a good positive call, with identification of the block, rapid deployment of a perimeter by the community, the establishment of search teams, and overlapping search patterns were described, shown, and discussed in detail.

Remember, wall-jumpers just love poor perimeter security and concealment. A trespasser on your property is a precursor to damage/theft/break-in.

To counteract wall-jumpers we need to do three vital things:

  1. Don’t be a soft target. Every property should have a perimeter that prevents a fit criminal from climbing over.
  2. Maintain areas around the perimeter inside and outside your property, making it harder for criminals to scout/breach/escape without detection. Ensure clear sightlines and remove hidey-hole, so you can check things out quickly & safely.
  3. The emergency call “Positive wall-jumper!” must always elicit massive community response, leading to the arrest of any suspects. Participation brings safety.

 

Those who attend, please join us on the streets next time.

Did you miss this event? Watch out for the next one!

-DNW Chair

Involved ∙ Safe ∙ Doringkloof