ADT safety workshop this Thursday 17 May

Date posted: May 15, 2018

Please see below regarding a useful and helpful workshop to be held by Fidelity-ADT  this week.

Dear Noordhoek Resident,

This informative and thought-provoking course is open to all homeowners, their gardeners and domestic workers to help keep them safe in and around your property during the day.

This course is a must for all domestic workers and gardeners and will ensure that they are better equipped to ensure the safety of themselves and your loved ones in your home.

Unfortunately the presence of criminal elements in our society is a reality, but with the basic education this course provides, they can be empowered to prevent being a potential victim.

The course covers the following:

• Awareness 
• Suspicious vehicles and people 
• Crime prevention at home and around 
• Emergency numbers  
• Best practices 
• Alarm and panic buttons  

When: Thursday 17 May 2018
Time:  10h00 – 11h30
Where: Noordhoek Community Centre, Avondrust Circle  (the building to the left of the new Jake’s Restaurant)

For further information and bookings, contact me on bberry.cpt.za@fidelity-adt.co.za or on 086 12 12 300.

Brendon Berry
Community Development Manager
Fidelity ADT

CPNW DATABASE

Date posted: May 11, 2018

Please help!  I know people have left the area, and others have sold their properties, but some have not notified us, which means our database of members is out of date.  This causes problems with new tenants/owners trying to register as members and we also don’t know whom to contact in the event of a problem at a property.  PLEASE – if you are receiving this mail and no longer reside/own property in Chapman’s Peak, just hit the reply button and type the word GONE – or a short sentence to let us know.

Thanking you in advance for your co-operation in this matter.

Warm regards

Karen MacIntyre

CPNW Newsletter – 19 April, 2018

Date posted: April 19, 2018

Dear Neighbours,

Crime Update

It is with some relief that we are able to report a quieter month at last with regard to incidents in our area! We had a further report of trespassing on a property in Willow Rd to add to the other incidents on that date, that we mentioned in our last newsletter but little else of general concern.

Beach Status

With regard to Beach issues, we have fortunately also not had further incidents and we must now inform everyone that our contract with Fidelity/ADT, for the team that has been patrolling the beach, has now come to an end.

Although there do seem to have been some significant arrests and the patrollers have clearly had an impact, we must make it absolutely clear that we still consider remote parts of the beach and especially the area around the wreck to be very high risk areas and we urge everyone to continue to exercise due caution in this respect.

TMNP Presence

On the positive side, we have noticed increased patrolling from Table Mountain National Park rangers who seem better equipped to deal with the problem since our earlier concerns were made public and who have also made arrests.

Beach Security Plan

We are delighted to be able to report that, under the stewardship of a few, highly capable volunteers, there is good progress towards hatching a more comprehensive sustainable Beach Security Plan which will be presented in due course at the NRPA and Kommetjie equivalent forums and which will be workshopped with all the various stakeholders (SAPS, SANParks, City, Fidelity, ADT, neighbourhood watches, etc) that have been involved to date.

A draft plan will be presented as soon as possible so that everyone can understand the need for a layered approach and offer assistance where and when necessary and we will keep you updated on this as it unfolds.

Community Centre

News with regard to the Community Centre is that we have now signed an MOU with Volunteer Wildfire Services (VWS) that will finally see the completion of the building as well as its use on a regular basis, by VWS as a standby facility and for storage of their vehicles and equipment. In terms of the agreement, VWS will have the use of a meeting room and facilities as well as space for vehicles and equipment and in return has taken responsibility for the refurbishment of the bathrooms and the two large end rooms, which as a hall with movable dividing walls so it can be divided into meeting rooms, as well as sliding door access to the braai area.

We are delighted that this agreement has gone ahead as it not only provides support for another important community-based organisation, in keeping with the City’s desires for the use of the Centre, but is also the final step in guaranteeing that this centre will in fact become a well-utilised community asset rather than the dilapidated white elephant it had become.

Additionally, to complement our own Volunteer Fire Unit, we will now have a second, larger firefighting unit in our back yard during fire season and I am sure many will rest better for knowing that!

Plein Air Festival

We are most grateful to Roger Melvill and Andrew Hart for putting together the recent Noordhoek Plein Air Festival on Saturday 7 April which saw artists positioned all over our neighbourhood capturing the beautiful scenes.

These were then placed on auction later in the day, with significant funds raised in support of cameras and communication equipment, particularly aimed at improved monitoring of greenbelts in the Dascro area. This was a lovely community event, which really spoke to the growing community spirit in Noordhoek!

Radio Checks

We did notice that the radios had been worryingly quiet so we were glad at the response to a recent reminder to do a radio check… Please try to do one at least once per month (during civilised hours of course) and to switch it on, on 8 (and not in the charger) at night.

Nobody is being asked to play the hero but if even 100 houses light up in response to an alarm call, that sends out a hugely powerful message!

Wishing you a safe, peaceful and wet month!

CPNW Committee

CPNW NEWSLETTER – 25 MARCH 2018

Date posted: March 25, 2018

Dear Neighbours

Crime Update

Since our last newsletter we are aware of at least six incidents in our area. Of note is a concentration of break-ins in the Beach/Mountain Rd area:

• In the early hours of 3 March, via a window with the theft of a laptop and other valuables. A radio call was made shortly after the break-in immediately, with a rapid response from the 2 ADT vehicles supported by a small number of responders. An ensuing search of the mountainside above the house lasted into the daylight hours, no further trace of the burglars was found.
• At an even earlier time in the morning of 15 March, residents were up and about for other reasons and had put on some lights, when the heard a minor disturbance outside but did not investigate. In  the morning however they noticed that their wheelie had been opened and various garden implements had been moved out of their shed but had been left in the garden.
• We were also informed via SASDP of two thefts from rooms that were left unlocked in Monkey Valley.

Equestrian Theft Syndicate?

On 27 February, a garage in Protea Road was broken into and a large amount of goods, including saddles and other riding equipment, a generator and bicycles were removed. This is the latest in an ongoing trend involving break-ins to buildings associated equestrian activity and it would seem that there is a syndicate operating that specialises in riding equipment and additionally seems to involve individuals who are comfortable around animals.

The perpetrators appear to be using a vehicle to transport the heavier goods although tracks of the stolen bicycles were traced going across the wetlands and towards Masiphumelele.

We are also aware of a vehicle break-ins in Protea Rd on 21 February.

Specialised Tactical-Response Team

As mentioned in our last newsletter, we were able to secure the presence of a specialised tactical-response team from Fidelity-ADT at the beach for another month and they will remain in place until early April. We are pleased to announce that, in collaboration with Komwatch members, they were instrumental in securing the arrest of a suspect who was wanted in connection with some of the attacks last year.

We are pleased to note that there have been no further attacks and we do feel this is largely due to the presence of this team, who have, on a regular basis, intercepted suspicious-looking visitors to the beach and removed weaponry. Although Komwatch were unable to support funding for this month and have had to attend to more local issues after a surge in break-ins in their own area, we had fortunately received enough donations to sustain the initiative for another month, with the remainder of the funds that were donated for this purpose, so a big thank you to everyone for your support!

Beach Security into the Future

Both the CPNW and KomWatch Committees have however, struggled to take on the responsibility for ensuring security on the Beach in addition to fulfilling our local mandates and this is not something we are able to sustain. We are thus very pleased that a number of individuals who are passionate about beach safety have come forward with initiatives to make the Beach safe again. These will involve signage, safety equipment and mobile, higher-visibility patrolling as well as the back-up of more specialised response-team members, whom we hope to also be able to engage on a longer-term basis as a further level of support for local neighbourhood watches in the event of a crime surge.

Needless to say, these initiatives will need ongoing funding if they are to succeed and, as much as we do not feel that this kind of security should, ideally be reliant on funding from communities, our honest assessment of current levels of incapacity is that this is the only way we are going to keep our beach safe in the short to medium-term.

SANParks, SAPS, City, Province

There are nevertheless also ongoing engagements with SANParks, SAPS and the City and Provincial Government representatives, particularly in the wake of the recent murder of a mountain biker and we will continue to assert our communities’ rights to far better services than we are currently receiving.

On that note, we must, once more stress to everyone the importance of reporting all crime to SAPS as the allocation of SAPS members to precincts is based on crime statistics collected by stations, so when we don’t report we are also playing a role in the understaffing of our local SAPS. Sadly, there has also been a need to report cases to a higher level, when services have not been up to a required standard and we would encourage members to make use of the Western Cape Police Ombud, as well as the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) in this regard.

If you’re leaving…

Lastly, we have noted that there are a number of houses on sale in the area so here is a little reminder to those who may have a radio and are leaving the area.  Please advise us if you are selling the radio on to the next owner of your property or if you intend taking it with you. If the former, then please make sure that the new owners register with CPNW before letting them have the radio.  If the latter, then you need to get it to us so it can be de-programmed.  CPNW is obliged, by law, to keep track of all radios sold that have the CPNW frequency installed.

Wishing you all a safe month and pleasant Easter Holidays!

The CPNW Committee

CPNW NEWSLETTER – 20 FEBRUARY 2018

Date posted: February 20, 2018

Dear Neighbours

Kakapo Wreck Muggings

As most of you will, no doubt by now be aware, there have been further attacks on the Beach, in the area near the wreck of the Kakapo. We continue to assist Komwatch with the funding of two members of Fidelity/ADT’s tactical response unit, which we do feel was effective in reducing incidents during January – with none of the incidents taking place when they have been active.

The rate negotiated for the use of these men was significantly discounted so they do not come with backup support and thus, although we have been successful in securing their services for another month, the hours they were putting in was not sustainable, so they have needed to reduce their time on active duty are coming at different times each day.

We are most grateful for the donations we have received in support of Beach safety and we will continue to fund them for as long as possible and to look for more sustainable solutions. Chief among these is better coordination with SANParks and between them and other security agencies, which sadly, still leaves a lot to be desired and we will continue to work with other groups in pushing for a more comprehensive approach to safety on our mountains and beaches.

Risks

We are however, shocked at the numbers of vulnerable individuals who still seem happy to walk down the beach with absolutely no apparent sense of the risks involved. We would urge everyone to take note of the seemingly gratuitous levels of violence associated with these incidents and urge everyone to not only stay away from the further reaches of the beach, but also to warn others, who seem oblivious to the risks involved.

Housebreakings Down, Arrests

Returning to the immediate neighbourhood, we are pleased to note that there have not been any further housebreakings of the type associated with the removal of window panes since the 17th of January, when a very quick response from CPRT members was not successful in apprehending anyone but seems to have given the perpetrators a good scare. News is that there have been a series of similar incidents in Fishoek, so we need to be on the alert for future incidents of this type.

Sadly, we are still battling with break-ins to out-buildings, with the theft of a generator and other equipment from the Earthride stables on Avondrustvlei farm and another robbery at the NRA building. In better news, a quick response by our ADT patrollers, with assistance from YMA offices, led to the successful arrest of two suspects who had broken into a house in Buren Rd a little earlier that evening.

Water

We are grateful to everyone who is working hard to save water and especially to those who are working with the NRA to prepare our neighbourhood for a possible “Day Zero” scenario. A critical thing we need to be sure about, relates to the presence of vulnerable people in our area, who would not be able to collect water for themselves.

An altogether more attractive possibility that may seem like fantasy to some but which the Scarborough Community is on the verge of proving to be possible, is to make our entire area water self-sufficient, in an emergency situation. This would of course be dependent on the willingness of those with access to groundwater to share this resource and would need everyone to pull together in all sorts of ways to make it work but perhaps, like with the fire, it is something that could end up making us an even stronger community than ever before!

Please assist by completing the survey we are helping to distribute, on the website and through the Community Connector Groups! Thank you to James Eckley and Gail Jennings for putting this together.

You can also use your Connector Group to discuss the water crisis and how your street can manage the situation.  Even simply discussing it with other people can help.

Social Media and Vigilantism

Finally, we must again raise concerns about some of the content being posted on Social Media. Whilst we have raised the issue of false news and the problems with inflammatory postings, even more serious are blatant calls for what can only be termed as vigilante action. While we fully understand people’s frustration at the lack of progress in apprehending suspects, particularly on the Beach and we share the dismay at the dysfunctional state of many of our security services, we cannot condone illegal behaviour of any form.

A particular theme that keeps surfacing, has been around ideas to “set a trap” to apprehend suspects on the beach or in the mountains. In this respect a few key points need to be made:

• SAPS have made it clear to us that they are reluctant to use such operations because of risks of “entrapment” being used as a defence and undermining the chances of a successful conviction.
• Whilst we do not accept this completely, it is clear that for such an operation to be successful, it must be very carefully planned, with input from prosecutors.
• To plan and carry out an operation, without permission, on SANParks property, would be illegal, particularly if weapons are used.
• Planning and carrying out a “sting” operation, without the involvement and express permission of SAPS, would be breaking the law and if someone was to be injured or killed, charges of attempted murder, or murder and of conspiracy to murder or to commit public violence would ensue.
• It is possible that anyone who had prior knowledge of such a plan (i.e. anyone on that Social Media Group and particularly those indicating support) could be implicated as an accomplice under the doctrine of Common Purpose in South African law.
• It is furthermore illegal to incite acts of public violence, which is what calling on people to set traps and to “teach them a good lesson” effectively amounts too.

We are thus amazed at some of the blatant postings we have seen on various Facebook and WhatsApp groups in particular.

We find it odd that anyone who is seriously planning something of this nature would see fit to publicize it first, so we are hopeful that this is mostly silly posturing, rather than the stupid criminality of publicising a crime before carrying it out!

It is nevertheless inflammatory in the extreme and whilst it may serve as useful venting for the more histrionic among us, it is not something we will tolerate on media associated with CPNW and we will be challenging its presence on other forums – we believe that now, more than ever, we all need to put our energy into strengthening, rather than undermining the rule of law.

Please let us work together on this!

The CPNW Committee

Announcement: Fun Hike to “take back our mountains”

Date posted: February 8, 2018

Are you tired of the senseless violent attacks on the mountains and beaches?

Are you fed up with the criminals and perpetrators owning the mountains and beaches?

Are you tired of feeling unsafe and unable to even take a short walk into the mountains for fear of your and your family’s lives, thus being restricted to built up areas?

Do you feel for the victims and their families who have been devastated by the attacks?

We’re organising a hike up Elsies Peak next week Saturday 10 February, TO TAKE BACK OUR MOUNTAIN!

Meeting at the Glencairn side parking area at 09:00.

The goal: To promote awareness, show solidarity for this common cause and show support for the victims  of the recent attacks as well as their families.

To guarantee safety for you and your family there will be armed response, neighbourhood watches present at the parking and on the route. SAPS will be informed of the event.

Table Mountain Security Action Group members will be present.

The established “Take Back Our Mountains” hiking group has been informed of and fully support this Elsies Peak Hike.

Bring the whole family, bring a smile and let’s enjoy the mountain the way that we are supposed to and is our right to!!

We’re going to take back our mountains and beaches, one trail at a time!!

Let’s make it a big group, to make a proper statement and to break the shackles that have been placed on us!!!”

ALL WELCOME – PLEASE SHARE

Invitation – Public Water Crisis Meeting

Date posted: February 2, 2018

On behalf of the Noordhoek Ratepayers Association:

MANAGING THE WATER CRISIS

INVITATION TO A PUBLIC MEETING

MONDAY, 5th FEBRUARY 2018
6.00PM
MONKEY VALLEY RESORT

The NRPA invites all Noordhoek residents and ratepayers to a meeting to discuss plans, implications and questions concerning the water crisis. Our ward councillor as well as a representative of South Peninsula Water will be in attendance.

Our mailing address is:
NRPA
PO Box 1827
Sun Valley
Cape Town, Western Cape 7985
South Africa
Email: info@nrpa.org.za
Website:www.nrpa.org.za

CPNW NEWSLETTER 23 JANUARY 2018

Date posted: January 23, 2018

Dear Neighbours

Crime Update

Unfortunately the year has started with a further upsurge of incidents typical of what we were experiencing in the latter part of last year, in terms of both break-ins and beach muggings.

We are aware of a burglary in Beach Rd on 2 January, one burglary and at least one attempt to enter another house on Mountain Rd in the early hours of 9 January, whilst on the morning of 17 Jan televisions and other goods were stolen from houses in Beach and Hurter Rd, whilst we are aware of at least four other properties that had intruders on the same night, without property being stolen.

On both 6 and 17 January our Response team came out, as did others when the alarm was raised, which was reasonably quickly in both cases, yet the perpetrators managed to elude detection.

Evidence from tracks left after the latter incident would suggest there were at least three perpetrators, who have again used the modus operandi that we were familiar with from last year. This involves moving through the area by passing through properties, the skilful evasion of alarm systems and entry into houses by removing of window panes, with the theft of objects from houses whilst both people and their dogs have remained asleep.

Although we are clearly facing a gang of very sophisticated robbers, we are steadily learning more about their methods and our best hope of stopping or deterring them, will depend on as many of us as possible, acting in concert: 

• As they attempt multiple break-ins on the same night, it is critical that the alarm is raised with as much response as possible as soon as there has been any evidence that there has been an intruder robbery on your property.
• It is vital that, in addition to responders, everyone in the vicinity of a break-in turns their lights on and checks their properties for intruders.
• Response team members will be deployed to pre-arranged positions and then moved to attempt to cut off escape routes from where the incident is reported, we will also be deploying a vehicle with a mounted heat-detection camera that will assist in searching dark and bushy area and addition all members of our K9 team will attempt to track the burglars from the site of the incident.
• For the dog tracking to work it is important that anything that was potentially touched by the burglars is left un-touched so the scent can be picked up, so please be careful to preserves the sites of break ins, and anything that is found in the immediate area, un-touched until the dogs arrive.
• It is similarly helpful to preserve any footprints as these can be used for tracking and for later evidence. 
• Help may also be needed to check surrounding bushy areas and building sites but please do not do this without support!
• We thus encourage as many members as possible to please sleep with your radios on, out of the charging cradle and on channel 8 and we of course appeal to everyone who does not have a radio, to get one! 
• It is also important that everyone remains highly vigilant for people who may be surveying properties and to bring them to the attention of our ADT officers, as well as to record details such as vehicle registration numbers.
• We strongly suspect that stolen goods are hidden in the area and removed at a later point, so we would be grateful if everyone can keep a lookout for vehicles that may be removing stolen goods from the area and to look through areas where they may be hidden during safer, daytime hours.
• If you haven’t done so already, please do review your alarm systems and consider putting additional measures in place.    

House Invasion

We are also aware of a house invasion, just outside of our area at approximately the same time as the incidents in Mountain Rd, and although both the timing and the modus operandi of this incident would point to different perpetrators we can expect more of the same in future in the area too.

Beach Incidents

With regard to Beach incidents, there was a further knife attack near the Kakapo wreck on the evening of 9 January. As per our communications on this matter we have continued to engage with the members of Komwatch and with representatives of SAPS, SANParks, the City and the Province.

We are extremely grateful for the excellent response to our appeal for funding assistance and some of this has immediately gone to support Komwatch in funding additional security on the Beach, which has been supplied by Fidelity-ADT. This has paid for the presence of trained personnel on the beach for sunrise to sunset for an initial period of one month and we will look at extending this, if necessary.

Thus far the team has successfully assisted with the arrest of one armed robber (although he is not thought to be one of the principal perpetrators), the apprehension of three other possible suspects and in preventing at least one further incident.

We are pleased to report that there is now a far more comprehensive response to the incidents from all the parties involved and we are also looking at some options for more sustainable solutions in the longer run, which may also require funding, so any further donations will be greatly appreciated. Our banking details are as follows:

• Chapman’s Peak Neighbourhood Watch; Standard Bank; Fish Hoek; Account Number 27-036-443-9  – please specify that it is for responding to Beach attacks in the notification

Appeal

As a committee we have been concerned at what seems to be a growing trend of rumour-mongering on social media, accompanied by increasingly alarmist and aggressive levels of discourse and behaviour.

This includes threats of vigilante actions, more than one incident where weapons have been (illegally) displayed on the beach and the spreading of false information that not only raises anxieties further but undermines what measures we are able to take.

With the deterioration in the economy bringing with it a range of social ills and the arrival of Day Zero now a certainty, we would appeal to everyone to try to do everything possible to pull together in the best way possible.

This includes doing what we can to instil a measure of calmness in our responses and to avoid statements and actions that in any way could seem to be inflammatory or offensive. No matter how angry we feel about the various failures in leadership and governance that may have led us to this point, this is the time to be devoting all of our energies towards developing solutions and working in a united way towards achieving these.

The Water Crisis – Community Response

As Day Zero approaches, we encourage community members to find practical ways to help one another.  For example, we can use the Community Connector WhatsApp groups to discuss ways of saving water. 

If there are elderly people in your street, consider offering to lend them a helping hand.  Share useful information – the South Peninsula Water Facebook page is a great resource for this. 

We can and will overcome the challenges that lie ahead of us!

The CPNW Committee.               

Household Staff Safety Workshop

Date posted: January 18, 2018

ADT is offering a workshop for household staff – to empower them with knowledge and techniques to avoid being victims of crime.

The workshop is scheduled for 30 January and is highly recommended.

Click here for full details

Beach Robbery Suspect Arrested

Date posted: January 11, 2018

On Wednesday 10 January approximately 17:30 a report of an armed robbery on Noordhoek beach was reported to Komwatch (Kommetjie NHW).

A suspect had allegedly robbed a couple near to Kommetjie side of Noordhoek beach.

Private security companies and NHW responded immediately and with the assistance of community members the suspect was detained in possession of the weapon and stolen items. The suspect was handed over to Ocean View SAPS.

A private investigator jointly funded by Kommetjie NHW and Chapmans Peak NHW will be assisting the NHW’s to track the case.

Thanks to the hard work by committees of Kommetjie and Chapmans Peak NHW and the quick response of the private security companies involved.

This by no means eliminates the risk of further attacks on the beach and both NHW’s are actively liaising with SANPARKS and SAPS to ensure they continue patrols on the beach. In addition to this, the privately funded tactical security team will continue their operations in conjunction with SANPARKS.

Thank you to the community for donations received thus far, however additional funds are still required.

KomWatch and CPNW Committees