Date posted: December 18, 2019
Dear neighbours,AGM
Thank you to everyone who came to the AGM! Simply from a personal basis it is always so nice to see such a range of familiar faces and with 54 members, representing 51 households, present we felt that, in addition to ensuring proper governance it provided valuable guidance for us, as a committee, regarding the important matter of our partnerships with security providers. We have since acted on that mandate and now have an important announcement to make.
Click here for the Chairman's Report
Click here for the AGM Presentation
Uptick in Incidents
More urgently however we must make note of a number of recent incidents that have taken place since the AGM. We became aware of two break-ins to outbuildings at Avondrust Mews in recent weeks that we did not know of, in the wake of learning of a resident waking up to find a burglar inside a house at the Mews in the early hours on 3 December. The intruder fled, taking a handbag, when the resident shouted out. The alarm was then raised via a local WhatsApp group and ADT was called. It was noted that access to the property was relatively uncomplicated, with little in the way of alarms of other security measures and it would seem that the burglar spent some time in the area, both before and after the incident.
This was followed by a burglary this week, it would seem whilst load-shedding was taking place, on either the evening of 11 or 12 December in Buren Rd, with the burglars making user of load shedding to get into a property. A wheelbarrow, cabling an iron and items of clothing were taken.
This is of course, the time of year when crime does tend to peak and with a declining economic climate we can only expect the risk will increase. As a result, we can expect that criminals will start using events such as load-shedding as opportunities to enter the area. This is thus a critical time to be checking radios and alarm systems, particularly with regard to battery back-ups, as well as to consider general security and things like electric gates etc.
Security Provider
In terms of our decisions about Security Providers, as set out in the Chairman’s Report, which has been made available with this newsletter, we had received a proposal from a member to consider a partnership with an alternative Security Provider: Deep Blue Security. This had taken place on the back of previous AGMs when we had called for such proposals after members had raised concerns over various issues related to our existing Service Provider. We have since spent some time having a careful look at Deep Blue, including obtaining references from other areas where they operate, investigation of their monitoring and reporting systems, a visit to their control room and an assessment of their financial sustainability.
As set out at the AGM, we believe that Deep Blue offer excellent value as an alternative choice for a dedicated security provider in our area for the following reasons:
- They offer a single dedicated vehicle with an Armed Response Officer (ARO) 24hrs per day with a second vehicle and ARO for 12hrs at night, as per the existing arrangement.
- They offer in addition, an advanced system of camera monitoring that would incorporate all our existing cameras and they would additionally install extra cameras in vulnerable areas. The feeds from these cameras can be connected to our Control Room at the Community Centre to send us automatic alerts, whilst it will also be monitored at the Deep Blue Centre.
- We are confident that their monitoring and reporting systems as well as the fact that they are a relatively compact operation means that they are able to be highly responsive to our needs as a community.
- They offer a significantly improved rate on what we are currently paying, with a transparent and uniform pricing system.
We presented these findings to the AGM and there was very strong support for the view that we should support the establishment of a partnership with Deep Blue by actively encouraging members to sign up with Deep Blue as their security provider. As you will see from the proposal Deep Blue Security have made to us, they will manage the changeover of alarm radio transmitters without charge and they will be taking a range of other steps to assist members with the change in service provider.
Concerns
Whist support for developing a partnership with Deep Blue was almost unanimous, concerns were raised on two counts:
- What would happen if we ended up with a “hung” situation, with neither security provider in the area having enough clients to justify the terms we demand for our area? We are very happy to report that we took this back to Deep Blue and they have responded very positively to our concerns, with a commitment to retaining services in the area regardless of whether they have reached break-even numbers. We also know that, with in excess of 400 households in the area, there are at least 100 who have no security service at all and we are hopeful that the improved rates (and perhaps some peer-pressure) will encourage more to sign up!
- As a major drawback in the existing relationship has been our inability to hold the Service Provider to account when we have had problems, how will this be any different with the new Provider? We are happy to report that, although we had concerns regarding the limitations of what a voluntary association can demand in terms of individual contractual agreements with its members, we raised this with Deep Blue and they have agreed to develop a penalty system for any default at the level of service delivery.
Deep Blue Proposal
We are thus publishing the detailed proposal from Deep Blue Security on our website and we have sent it out with this newsletter. In keeping with the sentiment expressed overwhelmingly at the AGM and having addressed the only concerns that were raised, we would like to very strongly urge everyone in the Chapmans Peak Area to sign up with Deep Blue as your personal security provider. We are confident that they will be an ideal partner in our efforts to continually develop our capacity to maintain security in our neighbourhood and the strength of this partnership will be dependent on the degree to which we act in unison.
Click here for the Deep Blue Proposal
Privacy
We will on no account release anyone’s personal data to any company without your permission, so if you would like to be contacted directly by Deep Blue, please to reply to this mail to let us know. Deep Blue will be holding an information session at the Community Centre which we will announce in due course and they will be marketing actively in the area. We will also make information available on terminating contracts and to try and respond to any other concerns that may arise.
Please discuss this important matter with your neighbours too (especially the ones who do not have a Security Provider but sure benefit from the rest of us)!
We wish everyone a wonderful Festive Season and a happy and secure 2020!
The CPNW Committee
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