Letter from the Chairman
Date posted: June 15, 2017
Dear Neighbours
The recent spate of break-ins has understandably raised everybody’s concerns regarding security in our area. Of particular concern has been the fact that one of the break-ins took place at a property where an alarm system installation had recently been arranged through ADT/Fidelity. Although there is evidence that the alarm system was active, the burglars were still able to enter the house whilst the occupants were asleep and to remove numerous high-value items. In another incident, although an alarm was triggered, it would seem that the burglars had initially managed to evade perimeter alarms. It is believed that the alarm installation at this property was also arranged through ADT/Fidelity.
This of course raises serious concerns about the alarm installations and of course, about the trustworthiness of ADT/Fidelity as a security service provider. I wish to assure everyone that, as CPNW Chairperson I have personally raised these concerns with ADT/Fidelity Management and I have been assured that the incidents are being thoroughly investigated and that we will be given a detailed report-back, which we will share with our membership.
It is important to note that ADT/Fidelity is a large company with a number of different divisions of varying strengths and capabilities, as is the case with many companies. Whilst there is clearly a legitimate concern at the current time about their alarm installations, we wish to stress that we monitor the activities of their Armed Response and Patrol Officers extremely closely, via vehicle monitoring systems and via radio contact and we have also worked very hard to ensure we have a consistent team of reliable officers in our area whom we have got to know and to trust. Indeed, it was through the good work of one of these officers that stolen goods from the two break-ins on the night of 10 June were recovered, with the perpetrators having a narrow escape.
Although other companies have been capitalising on this crime wave and actively pursuing customers in our area we want to stress that not one of these competitors has been able to offer us even the use of a single dedicated vehicle in the area, let alone two at night and with the monitoring and feedback services we currently have with ADT/Fidelity. When dissatisfaction with ADT/Fidelity has been expressed in the past we have asked members for suggestions of alternatives and we again invite anyone who can, to come forward and show us a better option for a dedicated service provider. I wish to emphasise this request in all sincerity as it is indeed critical that the choice of dedicated service provider is based solely on the service that they are able to offer.
Having a dedicated service provider that is used by a substantial majority of our members has, however, been a key element of our security plan that has stood the test of time. Even with this recent surge, our crime stats compare very favourably with areas that are not served by dedicated vehicles – but this service will fall away if membership falls below the critical number required to make this viable for the service provider. Two things threaten this: rumour-mongering based on an insufficient grasp of the facts and “free-riding” by neighbours who do not pay for security but benefit from the membership fees paid by everyone else.
I therefore plea to everyone to work together as a community and act collectively! We will report back once the current investigations are completed and we do remain open to considering alternative service providers but any change would need to be done carefully and rationally.
John Parker. CPNW Chairperson
Neighbour Watch Members’ Conduct – Principles
Date posted: May 27, 2017
Dear Neighbours
We are enormously reassured by the fantastic response to our calls for help to arrest the recent crime surge – thank you everyone who has pitched in!
We do recognise, however, that at a time like this, emotions tend to run quite high and we would therefore like to take a moment to stress a few key principles in regard to conduct as members of the neighbourhood watch. We believe that this is really important as we have worked hard to build the security of our area on the basis of a supportive and inclusive community, which, as the foundation to all our efforts, is something we are anxious to uphold and develop.
So, please take a moment to consider three key points we would like to emphasise:
Communications
Please pause and think (and ideally get someone else to read your post) before hitting send on social media. This includes considering what time it is that your message will be landing in in-boxes as well as the potential for your message to cause hurt, irritation or anger. Please remember that a lot of people, with different perspectives and in different states of minds will be receiving your message! As important as your point may seem, if it damages the collective effort, it will have done more harm than good.
Identifying data
We would urge anyone spotting anything to try and take careful note of what has proven to be most useful in identifying suspects. According to information we have received, the most useful items of clothing to describe are shoes and trousers as these can less-easily be changed when a perpetrator is on the run, whereas hats, shirts and jackets are often swapped as a quick disguise. Whilst skin tone and hair colour and characteristics are undoubtedly useful, as are approximate age, height, build and facial features, unfortunately many of us are still in the habit of taking note of someone’s race and stopping there. This is not only minimally helpful (as people of all races live and work in our area and people of all races have a variety of skin tones and hair types) but it can also portray an impression of racist stereotyping.
On “stop and search”
Please remember that we are stepping on thin ice here as far as legality goes (depending on how clearly the assumption can be made that the person is linked to a specific crime). Wherever possible please leave this to the ADT patrollers or SAPS members and politely ask the person to remain where they are until the patroller is available. In all cases please exercise calmness and courtesy. Anyone has the right to be in a public area and we also have a right to enquire about peoples’ activities and to raise questions if there is good reason to suspect they are linked to a crime. We need to win over everyone who happens to be in our area for any reason other than criminal activity to helping us in the fight against crime and most people will respond reasonably to a reasonable request and explanation. They might even help us in the future!
CPNW Newsletter – May 8, 2017
Date posted: May 8, 2017
Dear Neighbours,
Crime Update
We are still seeing a worrying trend in terms of an increase in nefarious activity in our area and we remained concerned that this may herald the start of more regular and serious incidents if we are not able to turn this around and re-establish our area as one that is well-protected. Most seriously, a scooter was stolen in Pine Rd at some time between 17 and 19 April. As the battery of the scooter was known to be flat, it is clear that this theft must have involved some rather brazen activity that would have been necessary to either lift it onto another vehicle/trailer or to recharge/replace the battery. The implications of actions such as this being successful in the area raise do raise serious concerns regarding our vulnerability so we really do need everyone to be on high alert!
There were also included a further two break-ins to the NRA clubhouse which brings to 5 the number of times this particular premises has been broken into this year. There was also an incident of vandalism on Beach Rd, there have been several alarm activations that were highly likely to be due to attempted incursions onto properties. We are also aware of an increase in similar events in the surrounding areas.
So, once again we must particularly urge everyone to ensure that security measures and alarms are in place and working with particular emphasis on vulnerable out-buildings!
Radios
We have also had several incidents of late where members experienced problems using their radios when alarms were activated, primarily due to battery problems. So we must again urge everyone to PLEASE DO REGULAR RADIO CHECKS! We encourage everyone to participate in these and to initiate and respond to checks spontaneously, rather than relying on radio coordinators to do so. Although we strive to always ensure that a coordinator is available, as we are all volunteers (and human) we cannot always be 100% sure that this will be the case. So we do need the broader radio network to maintain some level of activity as a back-up, with over 120 radios in the area, this really should not be too difficult, simply stay tuned on 8, we can assure you that if you do so, the disturbance from regular traffic is minimal.
So, to be clear, we encourage any radio-user at any time (before 8pm) to:
1. Call in on 8 to check your radio: “Chapmans Peak, Chapmans Peak, this is xxxxx at (your location) with a radio check@ (repeat, initially 2x, then periodically until someone responds.
2. Respond to radio checks: “xxxxx this is yyyyyy at (y’s location) receiving you loud and clear” (or give a score out of 5 for volume (first score) and clarity (second score) – so “5 by 5” equals “loud and clear”)
How to Respond
We do think we need to start responding a little more actively to minor incidents so we strongly encourage everyone to take part in any response that is called to incidents in the near future! If you do not have an assigned role in the Response Team, simply putting house lights on, shining a torch in your road, notifying your Connector’s Group and having your radio at hand can have a major impact.
Additionally, if you do see anything that raises concern, please notify the WhatsApp groups but please also ask the ADT Patrol vehicles to investigate. They can be contacted directly via their cell numbers, for this kind of request, during daytime hours please contact the regular AR (V24) vehicle at 0784569398 but at night please contact the vehicle designated for Neighbourhood Watch Patrolling (V29) at 0832597312.
Admin
On the admin side of things we must ask everyone’s assistance in encouraging new residents to visit the website and sign up but equally importantly, to let us know if you have left the area. So, if you are getting this letter but no longer living in Chapmans Peak please send an email to membership@cpnw.org.za and we will take you off our mailing list.
We also have a legal obligation to keep track of radios that are on our frequency (one in the wrong hands could compromise everyone in the Fishoek precinct). So, if someone owns a radio and leaves the area please either give the radio to us to get the frequency removed before you use it for other purposes, or we can try and find a buyer for your radio.
Volunteers Needed to Assist with Safety in Table Mountain NP Areas
As many of you are no doubt aware, TMNP have battled to control criminal activity in the large areas under its control, areas that many of us use regularly for a range of recreational activities, including hiking, climbing, walking our dogs and cycling, with a number of recent incidents on Black Hill and in the Peers Cave area, in particular. If this situation is not turned around soon we face the unpleasant prospect of our beautiful beach and mountain wildernesses becoming no-go areas. Pete du Plessis, a Komwatch member with extensive experience of security work in wilderness areas, has put together a team of volunteers to assist with anti-crime efforts that are coordinated with SAN Parks, and which have already seen some success. He is however looking for further volunteers who are fit, have some experience in walking in the mountains and would be able to join when needed.
If you are interested, please let us know or contact Pete at 0824188868.
Wishing everyone a safe month!
The CPNW Committee.
CPNW Newsletter – April 10 2017
Date posted: April 10, 2017
Dear Neighbours,
As this newsletter was about to be sent out, news came of an incident involving a confrontation with a knife-wielding housebreaker in the early hours of 9 April, in a property on Pine Rd, opposite the Red Herring Centre. Although the house is usually well alarmed and the owners are active radio users, a house-sitter looking after the house had not activated any of the security measures. After hearing an intrusion, he ended up in a confrontation with the intruders, one of whom had reportedly drawn a knife. Fortunately he was able to subdue this man, who was subsequently arrested but his accomplice escaped.
This close shave only serves to reinforce the message in the original newsletter, which continues below…
Surge in Incidents
A surge of recent incidents would seem to suggest that we have become an area of interest to a certain criminal element. Whilst there is no strong evidence that any of the events are related, many of the recent incidents seem to suggest a pattern involving at least one group of young men in operation, possibly entering and leaving the neighbourhood via the beach area:
- Three young males were seen crawling through bushes at the end of Willow Rd on 23 March, they fled down the horse path to the Beach when confronted.
- On 25 March the NRA Main Building and the Judge’s Hut were broken into in what seemed to be a crude and brazen fashion, involving the smashing of windows.
- On the night of 28 March a group tried, unsuccessfully, to steal items from a building site and threw stones at the security guard there.
- On the night of 30 March the window of a car parked in Poplar Rd was smashed and contents were removed from its glove compartment..
- Tyres were set alight at the sports field on the night of 7 April
There has also been news of a couple of home invasions, as well as of attacks on hikers and on cyclists in neighbouring areas.
Communication and Vigilance
It is thus imperative that we all use all of these events to remind ourselves of the importance of vigilance and of communication with one another! Most of us have a tendency to want to slack off a little and simply enjoy the low-crime atmosphere that our neighbourhood is generally able to provide – but from time to time we need to all work a little but harder to secure that.
So please make a point of checking your property for vulnerabilities, either in the form of break-in opportunities, or of items available for pilfering, and remind everyone in the family about security measures! If you are not in a connectors group with neighbours please make this the moment you set one up (contact Lynne at lchogan@netactive.co.za for help), if you have a radio please make sure that it is working and on standby on Channel 8 whenever possible. If you would like to get a radio, please contact Craig via our website (www.cpnw.org.za).
Our experience has been that if we can send out a strong message about security in our neighbourhood at a time like this, crime levels drop again dramatically – but the converse is potentially also the case. This message can take in the form of cars in the streets and houses lighting up when the alarm is raised, and it can also be made present in the sense of few opportunities and plenty of watching eyes in the area – but the more we make it clear that we will work together to keep our neighbourhood safe, the better our chances of stopping further crime.
Community Hall
On the positive side, work at the Community Hall is progressing well, thanks in particular to the coordinating efforts of Patty Fennel! As we are starting to use the building more and more, an urgent priority is to plan and develop the parking area in a way that maximises the use of space. We also need someone to help with general cleaning work. If anyone is able to assist with either of these, please let Patty know: pattyf@webafrica.org.za .
Wishing you all a safe month!
The CPNW Committee
CPNW NEWSLETTER, March 2017
Date posted: March 17, 2017
Dear Neighbours
We have again had a relatively quiet month, although a further pig theft on Avondrust Farm in early February has raised further concerns about security risks on our Western Boundary and particularly to the farm. We were assured of some police work to attempt to deal with the immediate theft issue but we will need to monitor that area in terms of fire risk as well. The other incident involved the theft of a bicycle, after breaking in through the window of a house in Willow Rd on 17 February. Although SAPS, Chubb, ADT and CPNW members responded when the alarm was raised, it was the of the officer from Chubb security whose quick thinking saved the day after he surprised the suspect at the Masi end of the beach and successfully recovered the bicycle.
Our fire volunteers have been busy moving equipment to the Community Centre and setting up a base there, as well as completing an assessment of fuel loads as well as other fire and security risks on our perimeter. As mentioned, the western boundary stood out as a concern, as did the servitude along Chapmans Peak Drive, which is steadily becoming overgrown again. Thank you to Tristan Holme and Johan Oostheisen in particular and everyone else who has helped by working on this!
The Community Centre is making steady progress and the list of people who need our thanks grows every week! ADT are now doing their shift changes at the Centre, we are now using the meeting room as are a few other Community Organisations and we look forward to when we will be able to open it for everyone’s use. Although the meeting room is close to complete as is the kitchen area as is the control centre and the Guard’s Facilities, there is a lot of work to do on the large hall and toilets as well as on the outside landscape. We are very grateful to Patty Fennell, who has taken this on as coordinator and it is good to have the support of the NRPA and a close working relationship with them. We are inviting any Noordhoek residents or groups to come along and share in both the planning and development of this wonderful community venue! Please contact Patty at: pattyf@webafrica.org.za
We would encourage everyone to attend the NRPA AGM, which is to be held on 27 March, at Monkey Valley from 1830 to 2000 and we would love to see more people standing for office! The NRPA has in particular been paying close attention to developments regarding the proposal to extend Houmoed Avenue and put out a call for comments before their attendance at the first focus group of the current stage of the approval process. Please stay abreast of these developments, which will have implications for all of us in one way or another via the NRPA website: www.nrpa.org.za and taking part when the next opportunity to comment arises.
We are happy to report that we now have a total of 130 radio holders in our community, this translates to more than one in every three houses and our connectivity via media groups is even more impressive. A key element of crime deterrence is the magnitude of our response when an alarm is raised, in terms of numbers, even if we do little more than put lights on and communicate. So, with news of two recent home invasions in suburbs nearby, please let us stay alert and connected! The odd radio check does a lot simply to reassure one another, let’s stay in touch!
Wishing a peaceful month and sweet, sweet rain!!
CPNW NEWSLETTER, February 2017
Date posted: February 10, 2017
Dear Neighbours
We have been lucky to have had a relatively quiet Holiday Season in terms of housebreakings, especially when compared with most of Fishoek although a serious incident of shoplifting at the Farm Village was noted and the repeated theft of stock from Avondrustvlei Farm is a major concern.
Incidents
Aside from this, there were two incidents in December:
- On the 14th a bicycle was stolen from a house in Willoughby Drive overnight.
- On the 16th items were stolen from a veranda and an outbuilding in Mountain Rd, also overnight, when the owners (and dog) were away.
On January 18 a house in Poplar Rd was broken into, mid-morning whilst the residents were at work.
In all three of these incidents it would seem that particular vulnerabilities had been noted and were acted upon as soon as the opportunities arose. This unfortunately raises the very likely possibility that our homes are being looked over more often than we realise and it is a challenge to all of us to constantly work on ensuring that we do maintain household security as much as possible, as this is something that benefits everyone in the area.
It is excellent to hear the communication on various channels when a person, whose behaviour has raised concern, is noted by others and responded to appropriately. There also seems to be a high level of civility, sensitivity to the rights of everyone who may be in our area, as well as care in the use of language amongst the vast majority of our members on social media and this is something we would like to acknowledge and maintain.
Arrests
We were delighted to hear news this week of the very successful identification and tracking of two vehicles that were being used in “crowbar-gang” style housebreakings, resulting in major arrests. This was largely attributable to SMNW members linking multiple false number plates with the suspect vehicle and then placing the information on the network of Licence Plate Recognition (LPR) Camera users with the alarm being raised when the vehicles triggered cameras in Simonstown. This once again demonstrates the effectiveness of coordinated surveillance systems and we look forward to collaboration further with our friends in SMNW and other NW’s in the valley on our Watchcom Project, which is developing a section of the Community Centre as a well-equipped communications and monitoring centre.
Community Centre
We are very grateful to Patty Fennell who is now taking responsibility for driving the development of the Community Centre and WatchCom Building. This is progressing steadily and I am sure many will have noticed the improvements in appearance of the building itself and its grounds as well as the new electric gate and the ADT vehicles – they will in future be using this building for shift changes and refreshment stops. Our Fire Volunteers have installed a container behind the building and “On the Verge” are in the process of developing a nursery. We are making steady progress with work inside the building and in addition to the WatchCom area we have completed work on the kitchen area and a meeting room is almost ready for use.
The next steps involve developing the larger rooms on the eastern side of the building into a community hall which we hope will become a wonderful facility for everyone in the community to use. The options are endless: public meetings, club events, yoga classes, barn dances – you name it! We plan to soon make available a sketch-up of our vision of how we would like the community centre to be but ideally the centre should be for everyone in the Noordhoek Community so we are inviting all interested individuals, groups and organisations to come and get involved in this wonderful project. If you are interested please contact Patty: pattyf@webafrica.org.za . We firmly believe that a strong and united community is a safe one and this is a great way to build it!
NRPA Committee Nominations
On that note we would like to support the call by the Noordhoek Ratepayer’s Association (NRPA) for Noordhoek Homeowners to come forward for nominations to their committee. We thank the current members for their involvement and we hope that there are others who will be prepared to do their bit for our community. We can testify that the payoff (for a relatively small time investment) of seeing this place we call our home continue to grow and flourish is enormous! If you are interested please email the NRPA: info@nrpa.org.za
ADT
Please welcome ADT Officer Mervyn Du Toit to the team! Officer Du Toit replaces Athi Gcememe, who has moved to another posting. We are also happy to report that this resulted in a father-and-son reunion as Mr du Toit Senior works as a car guard at the beach, so we now have dual protection from the du Toit family!
Please also welcome ADT Officer Sinethemba Mzantsi to the team!
We encourage you to take time to wave, say hello, and stop to get to know all our offices as they become more familiar.
To summarise, our current ADT officers are:
In vehicle V24: Steven Mfaxa, Siya Maseti and Mervyn du Toit
In Vehicle V29: David Mgwetana and Sinethemba Mzantsi
We also welcome a new Station Commander at Fishoek SAPS, Colonel Jackie Johnson and we look forward to a good working relationship with her.
News from the CPNW Committee is that we are delighted to welcome Robin Mousley on board as our new Communication Rep.
By now we expect everyone has settled into the routines of the New Year and we wish you all a happy, safe and prosperous one!
The CPNW Committee
Welcome our new Chapman’s Peak ADT Officer
Date posted: January 30, 2017
Please welcome ADT Officer Sinethemba Mzantsi to the team! We encourage you to take time to wave, say hello, and stop to get to know him as he becomes familiar with all of us.
FIRE and Your Property – BE FIREWISE
Date posted: January 12, 2017
Fire season is upon us, and so we’re asking residents to review the state of your property and take any necessary action to reduce fire hazards. The attached brochure, in 2 parts, “Firescaping Your Garden”, and “Firescaping In The Fynbos” contains useful information to help you.
Should you have any questions, please contact our Firewise Committee: firewise@cpnw.org.za
Download and print: Firescaping-your-garden1
Download and print: Firescaping-your-garden2
News Letter December 2016
Date posted: December 7, 2016
Dear Neighbours
Thank you to everyone who came to the AGM! It was a somewhat smaller gathering than it has been for several years but, paradoxically, we feel reassured that this was a reflection of the relative lack of crime in our area, which has, in the past, tended to result in a smaller turn out at meetings. We trust that this does not reflect any sense of complacency! Crime levels in Fishhoek at the moment are worryingly high and we can be sure that attention will return to our area in due course. As was set out in our Chairperson’s report (available on the website), our key strategies involve three core areas of focus:
1. A strong relationship with a security service provider and an emphasis on ensuring the properties are properly secured.
2. High levels of surveillance and communications in our area.
3. A strong response capacity.
Our sense is that all of these work together in ensuring a high deterrent effect but equally we have learned that there is always something of an “arms race” on the go and if we do not keep improving our game, especially when we note a slight uptick in incidents, the crime will very quickly return.
So at this time (often referred to as the “Christmas shopping period” with rather differing interpretations of the word “shopping”) we must urge everyone to make doubly sure that security systems are working, to let neighbours (and Security companies) know if you are going to be away and if you are going to have people staying in your house and also to let any guests know about our security arrangements. With only two incidents in the past month (both failed attempts to break in with one resulting in an arrest!) and an average of under 2.5 incidents per month for the whole year (in 44+ houses) we really do have a good story to tell so we should not shy away from ensuring that visitors are aware of the crime risk and briefed on what to do to avoid becoming a victim.
We have become aware, via social media, of some degree of discontent about the fees charged by our preferred security provider ADT. Whilst we all share concerns about price increases in the current economic climate, we still do believe that we receive high value from ADT, as reflected by our crime stats. It should be noted that none of the competitors in the area were willing to offer a service with a dedicated vehicle and additional patrolling at similar rates, when we initially set out our terms in finding a preferred service provider for the area and there is little to suggest that this has changed. Of course, what has changed is the level of crime in the area and it would seem that the temptation to “free ride” by either using a cheaper service or none at all is rather too strong for those among us who do not seem to understand the ethos of working as a community. It does not take too much intelligence to realise that if this trickle becomes a torrent, we will soon lose our two dedicated vehicles at night and it will be downhill from there. So we urge everyone to think strongly about the meaning of community spirit! In a safe neighbourhood we have something that is exceptional and beautiful in our country so please let us not destroy it!
This does of course assume that there is indeed no competitor that can offer better value and we are open to this possibility. It would however be a huge exercise to move to another provider so we would need to be absolutely sure of our facts in making this decision. We thus repeat the offer we have made several times: Should any company be willing to make a competitive proposal they would be most welcome to approach the committee and any CPNW members who would like to explore other options are welcome to do so and the committee will support such efforts.
So, in this time of Goodwill we ask everyone to remember and savour the wonderful benefits of being in a supportive community and we wish you all a great festive season and a safe and peaceful 2017!
The CPNW Committee.
Welcome ADT Officer Du Toit
Date posted: December 5, 2016
Please welcome ADT Officer Mervyn Du Toit to the team! We encourage you to take time to wave, say hello, and stop to get to know him as he becomes familiar with all of us. Officer Du Toit replaces Athi Gcememe, who has moved to another posting.
