Date posted: August 27, 2018

Dear Neighbours

Crime Update

We are pleased to be able to report on a relatively quiet winter with only five incidents that we are aware of in our area, since the start of June.

This includes a housebreaking in Beach Rd, with the theft of a TV via a smashed window, on 6 June, the theft of laptops from an open house in Village Lane on 16 July, the theft of luggage from a vehicle parked on Chapmans Peak Drive, most recently an attempt to break open a door of a house in Beach Rd (no-one was home) in early August, and an attempted robbery at Monkey Valley on July 26.

The latter incident resulted in the quick response of a number of CPRT and community members, with successful arrests achieved after our K9 team flushed one of the suspects from his hiding place and another was later apprehended by our ADT officers. Well done to all involved!

It is reassuring to all of us to know there is this kind of help a radio call away when you need it! We also believe that repeated successes like this do have a way of creating a certain image about our community in the minds of those on the lookout for vulnerable targets. 

Review your Security Measures

We continue to hear reports of crime sprees in many surrounding areas and we should not be surprised if we see an increase in criminal activity as summer approaches and traffic into our area increases significantly with the influx of holidaymakers and beachgoers, whilst simultaneously the wetlands begin to dry out.

So this is a great time to be reviewing security measures and perhaps servicing that alarm system before the peak-demand season. Please also make sure your radios are in working order and do not be afraid to introduce different family members to the odd radio check!

Refuse

We would also like to thank everyone who is being more careful about managing their refuse so that it does not get blown all over the area and at least limits the time it is available to waste pickers.

We are also very grateful to those doing impromptu patrols on Friday mornings! We realise that this is a sensitive matter and our intention is not to prevent anyone from making an honest attempt to survive in whatever way they can. Thus our focus has been on asking people to keep things tidy and on getting to know who is in the area, so that we can minimise the associated increase in crime that has been reported in many places.

Drones

We have had a few concerns being raised about drone activity, so we thought it would be useful to clarify the regulations that control the operation of privately-operated drones, which are as follows:

• may only fly RPAS up to 7kg in weighT


• may only fly at night in R-VLOS (restricted visual line-of-sight), this was previously not allowed for any remote controlled aircraft


• may only fly up to the height of the highest object located within 300m of the drone (or up to a max of 400 feet, whichever is the lower of the two)


• may only fly up to 500m away from the pilot, while maintaining direct line of sight (R-VLOS)


• must to keep more than 50m from people


• must to keep more than 50m from roads


• must to keep more than 50m from buildings


• must to keep more than 10km from a registered aerodrome (airport or airstrip);


• may not fly in controlled airspace at all


• may not fly in “No Fly Zones”

Whilst we would also encourage all drone operators to exercise caution (especially when learning to fly the thing!) and to respect others’ sensitivities about both privacy and the natural environment, we do wish to point out that most drone pilots are simply having fun and are probably not out to spy on anyone or for some other malevolent purpose.

We thus find it disturbing when comments crop up on social media, with incitement or threats to shoot drones down. We would remind anyone making such comments that, unlike flying a drone, discharge a firearm or even an air rifle in a suburban area is a criminal offence.

Community Centre

We are pleased to say that most of the Community Centre is now completed and we will soon be ready to make it available for a range of activities and there will be further announcements about this in the near future.

 

Wishing everyone a safe and sunny (with perhaps some more rain too) spring!

The CPNW Committee