Crime prevention in Kirstenhof has been bolstered by more cameras and new software to monitor the area, says a neighbourhood watch chairman.

New cameras were added to Kirstenhof Crime Watch’s network in October, and, with fund-raising and residents’ approval, the watch plans to add more and install artificial intelligence technology onto street-facing cameras owned by residents, Kyle Clark told 40-odd residents at the watch’s annual general meeting at Kirstenhof Primary School on Wednesday November 27.

The area was more prone to petty crime but had seen a worrying increase in house robberies during the October-November period, he said.

He described how the watch had monitored greenbelt entry and exit points suspected of being used by criminals to enter the area. For a week, from midnight to 5am, watch members had sat in their vehicles and in the bushes, watching, he said.

After a perpetrator had avoided the surveilled area and broken into a house two blocks away on the first night, the watch had relied on two moveable infrared cameras and patrollers with dogs for added support.

“From then onwards, the suspect knew we were on to him, and he didn't come back to our area. Instead, he started hitting up by the estates close to the Westlake golf course, and then, eventually, he was actually caught, and his fingerprints have been linked to at least two cases of the break-ins in Chelsea Crescent, Kirstenhof.”

According to Mr Clark, the watch has two moveable infrared cameras, eight AI cameras and eight licence-plate-recognition (LPR) cameras.

The LPR cameras had helped to apprehend suspects in connection with both a cellphone theft and a Chelsea Crescent house burglary in which a vehicle was stolen.

While the watch had increased its visibility in the area, Mr Clark said it was “really limited” in what it was allowed to do, and so it needed the support of the police and security companies, but that support was sometimes lacking.

“When assistance is called for it's not always always available. While the relationship is growing and the support's getting there, it still could be a lot better,” Mr Clark said.

Keegan Fisher, the watch’s operations manager, said crime reported to the watch this year had decreased, but he anticipated that it would spike during the festive season.

Referring to the four crimes in the area most commonly reported to the watch, he said common theft accounted for 22% of cases, theft out of vehicles for 17%, business burglaries for 17% and home burglaries for 14%.

Looking at crime stats for the area from the beginning of April to the end of September, Kirstenhof police chief Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Jones said: “Contact crime is up by two cases and contact-related crime down by 24 cases. Aggravated robbery, such as house robbery, went up by five cases, but there were some good arrests made, especially two house-robberies cases, one in Constantia and Kirstenhof.”

He said extra police officers were deployed in the precinct on specific days during the festive season.

Kirstenhof Community Police Forum chairperson Geoff Bettison urged more people to get involved in their neighbourhood watch especially during the busy festive period.

“Currently the crime is starting to increase. It’s the time of year where everybody is shopping and the criminals too. They come to your house to shop.”

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