We embarked on a patroller initiative over the holiday period. The influx of owners and visitors has always been a target and weekend crime figures prior to December averaged 2-3 burglaries per weekend. We are delighted with the success of this project as, over the 20 day period of patrolling, we had only 3 crimes reported:
An instance of trespassing was foiled by the security company,
An attempted robbery also foiled by the patrollers and
A break-in where the stolen item was recovered by the patrollers.
There were 29 recorded incidences where patrollers intervened when they observed security breaches or suspicious activity. These ranged from vehicle windows and house doors left open to escorting numerous suspicious loiterers out of town between the hours of 23h00 and 04h00. In most instances, on seeing the patrollers, loiterers run away.
One incident of note: patrollers flagged loiterers who fled when spotted. The patrollers gave chase and caught one (with the assistance of APS – who were on hand to help). SAPS were called by the patrollers and the person arrested turned out to be a wanted criminal.
Patrollers were equipped with a torch and a radio and were in communication with the local security response officers and the Greyton Watch executive who were in direct contact with SAPS and other authorities as required.
The Greyton Watch committee took a decision to retain the patrollers in area M (entrance to the village) for another week to ensure that further land invasion attempts do not succeed. We will keep you updated on the progress of this matter.
On behalf of the community we would like to thank APS who, at short notice, assisted with coordinating the patrollers and together with LRV, responding to calls where necessary.
In light of the success we are reviewing the potential to extend this initiative. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the residents and local businesses that made this initiative possible. While we should rely on SAPS to provide such basic services to the community but they just do not have the necessary resources to patrol to such an extent.
We will keep all of Greyton residents updated on future initiatives that allow all of us to sleep safely and peacefully at night.