Resident invites neighbours to join new crime fighting initiative
Neighbours need to get to know each other better.
A resident of Witpoortjie, Joan Combrink, feels there is a need to form smaller intimate groups within the community to more effectively fight crime.
But regardless of going through the effort of dropping off an invitation in the targeted household’s post boxes, she had little reaction. In an email she wrote “… In light of the spate of crime in our immediate vicinity, I suggest that we form a smaller block watch group while remaining part of the bigger Witpoortjie watch group. I think this will lead to a quicker response time if we have the contact details of our immediate neighbours. We need to stand together in an effort to prevent crime in our neighbourhood.
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“A meeting will be arranged for us to meet each other. The streets involved are Koeberg Street between Oranje and Sluysken Streets, Liesbeeck and Hugenoot streets between Oranje and Sluysken Streets, Sluysken Street between Koeberg and Hugenoot Streets and Oranje Street between Koeberg and Hugenoot Streets.”
Brink said that “… Out of 60 houses on this block I only got four responses from the residents.
“I went ahead and formed a Witpoortjie block watch WhatsApp group with the following introduction:
“This group is purely to inform each other if we see unusual activity on our block. Let’s view it as the first step in the prevention of crime. Please inform your neighbours of this group and urge them to join in. I feel that by standing together we can form a united front and reduce the crime rate block by block. If we know what is usual, we will easily see the unusual, especially now with the festive season and people going on holiday. My idea is to have a meeting with all the residents on the block as soon as possible so that we can meet each other. I am going to try and get our ward councillor to attend the meeting as she has indicated on a previous occasion that she would be willing to assist such block watches.
“Please do not use this for advertisements or chain post etc. Please also refrain from using profanity, foul language, racist or sexual remarks”.
Anyone interested in supporting the initiative can contact Brink on 079 498 6562.
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