Camps Bay Neighbourhood - Up To Date

Print Email

Posted by Ian Merrington

Friday, 29th May 2009 at 06:00pm | Under News.

Read by 141 members

Camps Bay Watch Newsletter, 29 May 2009

Dear Camps Bay residents and Camps Bay Watch Members,

Sellecca Lang's article “Security Initiative under fire over illegal practices” (Atlantic Sun, Thursday 21st May) generated such enormous public response and interest that we thought it appropriate to publish our formal response, as it appeared in the press yesterday.

Best regards,

Ian Merrington

CBW Chairmain

=================

Dear Sir / Madam

As the publicly elected Executive Committee of Camps Bay Watch (CBW) we have been contacted by many of our over 900 residential members and over 200 business members who were outraged by Sellecca Lang’s article about the Camps Bay Community Security Initiative (CSI) in last week’s Atlantic Sun.

Over the last year we have come together as a community to protect ourselves from increasingly violent crime including a series of violent home invasions that many CBW members were instrumental in helping bring to an end. In just over a year, CBW has been directly responsible for approximately 120 arrests and all security role players in the area agree that CBW and the CBCSI has and will continue to have a hugely beneficial impact on crime reduction in Camps Bay.

To give such a large public platform in the way the Atlantic Sun chose to do to the dissenting views of a very small minority of residents such as Jane Bodin and Dr Peter Schoonraad frankly does a dis-service to your publication.

If accurately quoted, Ms Bodin’s petty objection to the new security huts as “unattractive” and Dr Schoonrad’s description of the CBCSI as a “business” are shameful and deeply offensive to the victims of the very crimes that have led to us taking the action we have as well as to the many members of our community who (unlike either individual) have given up many hundreds of hours to better protect all of our families and homes.

Further, Dr Schoonraad’s assertion that CBW was “singularly ineffective” in the arrest of the Momadi Home Invasion Gang is a huge insult in particular to the more than 30 CBW members that cordoned off the Little Glen in Camps Bay from midnight until 9am while SAPS swept it for the gang after their final assault on our neighbourhood in December 2008. Without CBW there is no doubt that the gang would not have been caught that morning, as without CBW’s quick response and extensive cordon the gang would have easily escaped exactly as they had done so many times before. Moreover, the initial breakthrough arrest in this case flowed directly from a CBW member who without CBW would never have known to be on the lookout in the first place.

Ms Lang chose to quote selectively in her article despite lengthy written responses having been provided both by CBW Chairman Ian Merrington and Camps Bay Community Police Forum (CPF) Chairman Bernard Schäfer. We also understand that Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security J P Smith was only partially quoted in Ms Lang’s article. This has led to considerable concern within our community as to the stance being taken by our elected representatives in relation to the CSI and the fight against crime in Camps Bay.

The article also provides no support for Ms Lang’s assertion that the “opt out” payment method adopted for the CSI top-up fee is unlawful other than a reference to the National Credit Act which clearly regulates the provision credit to consumers, which is completely irrelevant in this context. We have received assurances that the chosen payment method is legal and any resident wishing to opt out of the scheme at a later stage is in any event entitled to do so and will receive a refund of any top-ups already debited to their accounts.

The CBW executive has been granted an urgent meeting with Mr JP Smith to resolve the issues raised regarding the legality of the security huts. However it would not have been possible to request permission for huts in the manner suggested in the article given that the policy and procedure clearly does not yet exist for granting of any such permission. This very issue was raised at the recent Mayor’s Community Safety & Security Workshop and those attending the workshop were categorically told to place our huts and that a moratorium would exist until such time as the City could adequately deal with this issue.

We urge all our residents to unite together in making Camps Bay a safer place and in future we ask that rather than stirring up dissent in the community through the press, anyone with objections or comments should please contact their CBW sector representatives in person, any CBW executive member or through our website www.campsbaywatch.org where we provide a forum for more detailed information and discussion on CBW and CSI. Our purpose is, after all, to fight criminals and to keep all our residents and their families safe.

Yours faithfully

Simon Kneel

Vice Chairman CBW – on behalf of CBW Executive Committee

Content rating: Poor Nothing special Worth reading Pretty cool Awesome! 3 ratings

Comments

posted a comment on Wednesday, 10th June 2009 at 06:10pm

Thank you - On behalf of the Camps Bay Accommodation Association we congratulate Bernard Schafer and Ian Merrington of Camps Bay Watch and the Camps Bay Community Police Forum on the excellent work they do in keeping our suburb safe.

Chris von Ulmenstein

Spencer McNally posted a comment on Monday, 1st June 2009 at 07:00pm

re: security huts - Dear Cathy

Re your comments below regarding the hut at the Blair / Shanklin / Eldon / Cranberry junction:

>>
It is an absolute eyesaw.
<<

By common consensus of virtually all of the residents of the four roads covered by the hut, it is significantly less of an eyesore than the four armed gangsters that greeted one of our neighbours at 8:30pm on March 30th (see http://www.campsbaywatch.org/en/incidents-crime/incidents-crime/house-robbery-car-hi-jacking.html).

As any victim of violent crime will tell you, aesthetics take a definite back seat to security after you’ve confronted your mortality down the barrel of a gun. That said, you might want to hold your judgment over until the hut has been properly finished off – it’s not yet quite finished and should have some more homely touches added in due course in order to to soften the edges.

>>
I worry about the toilet issue as the one in Comrie has no ablution facility and this new one looks like a similar lack of toilet facility.
<<

I can’t speak for the hut in Comrie Road, but for this one a toilet facility is available via the property of one of the nearby residents.

>>
The huts should also have a plug point by law.
<<

This hut has a proper distribution board with adequate circuit breakers, etc. Electricity is being sourced from and kindly sponsored by one of the neighbouring properties.

>>
There should be careful monitoring of these structures before it gets out of hand!!
<<

This hut and its associated guards (one fixed, one roving) are 100% part of the CBCSI and have CBW’s full blessing.

I’ve personally spoken with over 35 residents in the four roads (out of approx. 45-50 houses – most of the remainder are either non-resident or impossible to get hold of) regarding the establishment of the additional security measures associated with this hut. Some objections were raised, all of which were dealt with as part of an extensive consultation process before the hut was put in place. Provision has been made for ongoing monitoring of any problems that might arise based on the objections that were raised (e.g. noise or light nuisance at night).

FWIW, the majority of people resident in the four roads are members of CBW, and the majority of said members (elderly and single parents excluded) are also regular patrollers for CBW, so this hut is definitely part and parcel of the broader security solution in which as many residents as possible participate appropriately.

This particular hut was not just thrown up overnight on a whim by a few people in the immediately neighbouring houses but is instead a response to the demands of an overwhelming majority of the surrounding residents in all four roads.

Naturally you were not consulted as you live some distance away. Nonetheless, many, many hours over literally hundreds of emails and phone calls as well as several meetings have gone into making sure that it’s an appropriate measure, appropriately located and appropriately integrated into CBW and the CBCSI. Implying that this hut is part of something that could get "out of hand" is thus somewhat unfair.

Michael Smorenburg posted a comment on Monday, 1st June 2009 at 12:24pm

Row the boat, don't rock it - Why is it that it's always those who aren't helping to *row* the boat who have ample time and energy to rock the boat?

As a resident and former member of the CBW Executive, I am stunned that members of this community; a community that has suffered a year of distress and anguish of violent crime; would be so petty as to nit-pick irrelevant details regarding aesthetics in the press.
I thank Simon for his letter, Bernard for his initiatives, and Ian for his leadership in holding a mirror up to these naysayers.
As my late mother used to say: "Nobody erects a statue to a critic". If you, Bodin and Schoonrad, wish to contribute; peel yourself out of your warm beds during the cold hours of dawn and join us in keeping everyone else safely in their beds.
If you find that inconvenient, then refrain from comment.
If you want no part of CBW, kindly provide your details so that we can make a point of avoiding the 'inconvenience' of our having us the community assist you when the likes of a Momadi-like gang inevitably make a re-appearance.

GO! CBW.

Roger Wyatt posted a comment on Monday, 1st June 2009 at 03:39am

security huts - Dear Members,

I foresee a problem with these 'wendy houses'. There has been a larger one erected over the last few days on the triangle of The Cheviots and Shanklin Crescent. This is no doubt council property and I am very surprised that it has been allowed. It is an absolute eyesaw. What worries me is that if this carries on who knows how many more will pop up and where they will be constucted. I worry about the toilet issue as the one in Comrie has no ablution facility and this new one looks like a similar lack of toilet facility. I know this is defintely illegal. The huts should also have a plug point by law.
There should be careful monitoring of these structures before it gets out of hand!!

Regards,
Cathy Wyatt