Report all crime, urges outgoing watch chairman

Crime in the Bergvliet Kreupelbosch and Meadowridge areas remains static, says outgoing neighbourhood watch chairman Brian Wilkinson, but he encourages residents to report all crime in the area to the police.

Mr Wilkinson, who has stepped down after 10 years as chair and 12 years on the watch's executive committee, was speaking to 30 residents on Zoom for the 17th BKM Watch annual general meeting on Wednesday May 15.

According to Mr Wilkinson, membership has increased by 9% since February to more than 3500 of the 4000-odd households in the area, and while only 28% of them contribute to monthly subscriptions, revenue collection has risen 17.5% with R1.7 million collected this financial year, compared to R1.4 million for the previous one.

With the increased funding, the watch had bought a Toyota Vitz, which had been branded and was on the road patrolling, and it had hired new "special response team" officers, he said.

The watch had recorded 212 crime incidents in the 2023/24 financial year, up by 12 incidents from the previous one.

“The trend, however, seems to be pretty static," he said, adding that crime was down sharply compared to the 642 incidents in the watch’s 2015/16 financial year.

It was important to report all crime so that the police could deploy resources appropriately, he said.

“The more cases that the police commissioners see are reported is equivalent to the amount of resources that are given to each police station. So if there're more cases in a certain area, more resources will be given to that area. If nothing is reported to Diep River and Kirstenhof police stations, they will have little or no resources given to them.”

Diep River police chief Lieutenant Colonel Ansley Jacobs said Meadowridge was not considered a crime hot spot in the precinct, but a house robbery and an attempted house robbery had been reported there in the past four months.

Kirstenhof visible policing commander Captain Loyiso Shumane said crime was up by 5% in the precinct.

Two other members of the watch's executive committee, Reto Jaeger and Ian Shapiro, are also stepping down and the office bearers for the new committee are Alan Down as chairman, Jacqui Stewart as vice chairwoman, Joe Baretta as treasurer and Elaine Munnik and Dean Wingrin as board members.

Martin Green, a resident, asked if membership drives were focused on homeowners or if renters could join as well to which Mr Wilkinson replied: “The tenant may refer it to the owner. However, if you're staying in the area and renting for a year or two, whatever your lease period is and you want to contribute towards a safer community while you're living in the area, contribute. This is a service provided to the actual area. And if you're staying here, it would be pertinent for you as the renter or the leasehold to join the neighbourhood watch.”

Another resident, Paul Sturrock, suggested the watch help to set up a street group gathering. “If we had more connections within our neighbourhood, the crime would be less,” he said.