(This newsletter contains important information – please read to the end).
CRIME SCENE
Over the previous six months Doringkloof has experienced the following crime:
- Burglaries: 33 or 1.3 every week – these occurred mostly in the early afternoon. While most occurred from Monday to Wednesday, this is not to say that they did not occur evenly spread over the other days as well.
- Theft (Muggings, cable, bicycles, etc.): 16 plus 7 gate motor thefts, making it 23. Strangely most muggings, theft of bicycles, etc occurred on either Mondays or Fridays. Then they mostly took placed after lunch with a few also occurring during the graveyard shift, mostly cable theft and theft out of properties.
- Theft of vehicles: 7 – these were mostly over Thursday to Saturday with no definite time of day when they occurred. Please do not leave your vehicle or your visitors vehicle on the pavement.
- Hijackings: 5 – certainly much higher than what we have previously experienced. Most were reported as attempted hijackings.
- Robberies: 1
- Intruders: 10 – this is worrying, as intrusions into properties had been almost eliminated over the last seven or eight years when we had almost none.
- Suspicious persons: 17 – While there is a slight peak in reporting of suspicious persons on Wednesday and Mondays, they were also reported throughout the week with a sharp drop on Thursdays and Saturdays. Interestingly, most suspicious persons were reported in the morning shift with a tapering off in the afternoons.
This then is the picture of ‘crime’ in Doringkloof. From this one could add local knowledge and make some serious deductions. However, what it does tell us is that we need to secure our own property against burglaries! Experience has shown us that we, the DNW, can do very little to prevent this except that we all pull together and report any suspicious persons and vehicles over the radio, making sure that the suspects know that they are being observed. This could make the burglars less keen in targeting Doringkloof. But it does mean we all have to get involved.
Hijackings are worrying – we can possibly reduce this by applying the anti-hijacking techniques when arriving at our homes.
AFFILIATION
Did you know that Doringkloof has a rugby team that for some time had arranged games against other sides, either teams made up of other keen rugby players or in some cases playing against clubs that needed the practice. However, the Doringkloof rugby players decided to enter into the local rugby league (or competition) and so they formed themselves into an official club and became affiliated to the Centurion Rugby Union (CRU). Once they affiliated to the CRU, the Doringkloof rugby players, (now the Doringkloof Rugby Club (DRC)) started to play regular scheduled games in the third league.
However, there was a price to pay. The DRC had to firstly draw up its own Constitution, and then elect a committee who in turn had to hold regular management meetings and finally they had to have a bank account. This was all accepted. On the positive side, the DRC then also sent their representatives to the CRU committee meetings and, in fact, participated in many of the decisions regarding the playing of rugby in Centurion. Naturally the DRC had to play their rugby according to the rules as stipulated by the South African Rugby Union (like in a code of conduct).
However, the CRU every now and then, also drew up some general management rules and guidelines, applicable just to the clubs affiliated to the CRU. Most were originally contained in the CRU’s constitution while some were decided by the CRU’s management committee, on which the DRC had its representatives. In all such matters the DRC as an affiliated member was consulted and thus became party to all the general rules and guidelines. (There are also those rules that come down from the South African Rugby Union that they must apply.) In fact some of the DRC’s representatives made a valuable contribution to the CRU’s general running. Once, when questioned as to why the DRC had to have its own constitution and management committee, etc, the reply was that the CRU wanted to ensure that the DRC was a proper club that would not easily fold. There was one thing that the CRU did insist on and that was that any outside ‘professional rugby player’ used by any of the affiliated clubs as a coach had to be registered with them. Again when questioned by the DRC, the answer given was that this was to ensure that the clubs did not boost the strength of their teams by using these coaches as players, particularly in the third league.
For those who had read this far, the above story is a fictitious one. However, the Doringkloof Neighbourhood Watch has been invited to affiliate with the local Community Police Sub-Forum in the Lyttelton Police Sector 2. This has caused some serious considerations amongst some members of the DNW, both for and against. The above story is intended to give members of the DNW an insight into what affiliation means.
For those who are not aware of it, the Police Act together with the relevant regulations issued by the Minister requires each Police Station commander to establish a Community Police Forum (CPF for short). Each CPF thus allows the local police station commander to liaise with the community, establishing a partnership between the police and community, promoting communication and co-operation with the community with regard to policing; and thus improving the service rendered by the SAPS, while also improving transparency and accountability, while allowing problem identification and problem solving.
The Lyttelton Police Station’s area of responsibility is in turn divided into 7 sectors, each with its own Community Police Sub-Forum (CPSF), in our case a Sector 2 Sub-Police Forum (CPSF 2 for short). This forum has the area from Kloofsig in the north, through the whole of Lyttelton to Doringkloof in the South. Sector 2 also has four (at last count) neighbourhood watches, three of whom are affiliated to the CPSF 2. The Chairman of the CPSF 2 has now invited the Doringkloof Neighbourhood Watch to officially affiliate.
We, the members of the DNW as a whole will have to decided whether to affiliate or not, a decision that could affect us as residents for many years, whichever way we decide.
Regards,
DNW Team
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