On February 16 at 10.09am a phone in signal was received from the RSS Guard informing the Control Room of a break in at unit 30 Thanda Thula Complex in Glenluce Drive Douglasdale. RFM Khawulani was dispatched to the premises. On arrival contact was made with the RSS Guard Lucas Tloome who confirmed that he was phoned by the client from unit no 30, who informed them that there were suspects inside her premises.

The guard went to the unit to check. On the arrival, he was informed by he owner that she saw the suspects inside her yard and screamed at them. The suspects then jumped over the wall of her property to the river side.

The guard proceeded back to the guard house to call for backup. On his way, he made contact with Frieda Moitjie from unit number 14 Thanda Thula who informed him that she was tied up by the suspects.RFM Khawulani arrived on scene and contact was made with the guard who gave him a description of the suspects. RFM Khawulani then drove around the complex to the back along Douglas Road and stopped at Chobe Sands to ask the guards if they saw anything. The guards confirmed that they saw the two suspects pass by about three minutes previous.

The RFM proceeded in the direction that the suspects were walking and turned into Lesley drive where he spotted the suspects walking along corner Lesley and Penguin Drive. He once again backup was called for; he stopped his vehicle in front of the suspects and ordered them to stop while pointing his company firearm at them.

He then arrested one of the suspects as the other suspect ran away along Penguin Drive. RV44 and RV55 arrived for backup and the second suspect was found along Darter Avenue. The suspect then jumped into

no: 5 Turaco Crescent followed by RFM Khawulani. The suspect was arrested by RFM inside the property.

The SAPS were waiting outside of the property and both suspects were handed over to them. SAPS on scene were Constable Mahlaba and Dale from Douglasdale SAPS.

RSS Medical Kerry was on scene to give the domestic worker Frieda Moeitjie trauma counseling.

Through further investigation it was discovered that the suspects crawled under the palisade fence which runs across the river as a perimeter fence. They then walked along the river until they got to no

14 Thanda Thula complex and jumped into the property on the Northern side.

The suspects found the sliding door open and used it to gain access into the house. They then found the domestic called Frieda Moeitjie and tied her up using a cell phone charger. The suspects then ransacked the house and fled.

Frieda was not sure what was stolen from the property as the owner was not at home. The suspects then proceeded to unit number 30 and got a fright when the client screamed and fled by jumping over the wall. The suspects were later identified as Justice and Andries Sanda who resides at 18th street, Alexandra Township.

The clients from unit 30 and unit 14 were both at the police station to open a case. It is unknown at this stage what is all missing from unit 14 as the client still needs to check. Jewellery was found in the suspect?s pockets which belonged to unit 14 which was handed over to the SAPS.

The Douglasdale SAPS and CPF have formed a Youth Desk which will be launched on March 17, 2012. They are still looking for volunteers in the age group of 18-34 years to join them and help out with various projects

The Youth Desk will engage themselves in projects like; school based crime prevention and social crime prevention such as:

Street Children

Victim Empowerment

Domestic Violence

Children in Conflict with the law

HIV/Aids awareness campaigns

Environmental intervention programs

Drugs and alcohol abuse

Primary and High School projects

etc.

Please pass this message on to your Kids, Friends, Neighbours, Churches, Schools, Youth Clubs, and Sport Clubs.

For more information and registration contact the Youth Desk coordinators:

Quinton Pretorius – 072 7841311 – E-mail: quinton@youngable.com

Martin van Zwieten – 083 4473683 – E-mail: mvz@netactive.co.za

Kelvin Ludidi, the Rolex Gang Leader, was shot dead on February 9, 2012. Ludidi and the Rolex Gang are responsible for thousands of armed robberies, hijackings, and follow home incidents, and had even been active in the CSS Tactical Operational areas.

Although Ludidi had been on their radar for some time now, and many of the gang?s members had previously been arrested, Ludidi remained elusive to the SAPS and private security companies. He was shot dead during a shootout in Crowthorne, Midrand, with an AK47 found in his vehicle.

There was a break in at a shop Leaping Frog Shopping Centre on Friday night February 10, 2012. The burglars cut a hole in the roof. Whilst on patrol the Douglasdale Police and CPF and RSS were doing routine checks at the centre and disturbed them, the suspects started to run away.

A suspicious Rasta guy, who was on phone, was seen running away and jumping into an old while Toyota type car and driving off. A huge security net spread out all over the area and all adjacent areas were checked and vehicles stopped Police climbed onto the roof to check if any other burglars were still there.

The police also accessed the service areas and alleys via TSG and the rear of Leaping Frog Shopping Centre, security guards, car guards and reaction officers from 24/7, RSS and SAPS joined forces to carry out the security dragnet.

A huge crowd watched the operation from TSG and Brazen Head. Centre Management were called to the scene, the whole store was checked room by room by RSS and police, from what could be ascertained nothing stolen.

Rain came into the store from roof hole and had to be mopped up

Thanks to the Douglasdale CPF and Security patrols the suspects were scared off.

Danielle Dooley

Friday night February 10, 2012 stated off quiet with paramedics of Emer-G-Med, K9 Law Enforcement and Search and Rescue Unit members and their dogs meeting up at 4pm, ready for the night ahead.

The K9 Units and the Search and Rescue Units work free of charge as volunteers as do some of the paramedics. Although there was a constant drizzle the only report in the early hours of the evening was a bumper bashing on William Nicol.

The teams went to Douglasdale Police Station to stand parade with police and metro police officers, security officers from RSS Security and ADT and members of the Douglasdale CPF for a joint operation.

30 EMS and Police vehicles drove in convoy to KyaSand Informal Settlement where complaints of loud music and disturbance of peace had been reported. The patrols arrived with a great presence, more than 50 police, security members and paramedics with the four dogs arrived at the complaint to find all was calm and in order.

The convoy then drove through the six sectors showing a strong police visibility. Due to the rain the other planned operations had to be cancelled.

motorbike accident (MBA) on the NI North Highway near the William Nicol off ramp. Medics arrived on scene to find that a biker had lost control of his bike flinging his wife off before coming off himself.

Witnesses reported that the man who had visibly been drinking was speeding when he lost control, his wife suffered severe gravel grazes on her back and posterior. Her husband did not appear to have suffered any major injuries except a slight concussion.

He was extremely combative with the medics; it took six of them to hold him down while they sedated him and placed him on a spinal board.

They were both taken to Life Fourways before being transported to Helen Joseph Hospital.

The second motor vehicle accident (MVA) occurred within minutes of leaving the MBA, witnesses reported that two vehicles were stationary at a red robot on Lesley Road near Design Centre.

Another vehicle was driving through the green robot on William Nicol heading toward Witkoppen, one of the stationary vehicles a white BMW suddenly started driving forward and then accelerated, (turning into William Nicol, toward Witkoppen) speeding through the red robot and crashing with great impact into the vehicle that was heading straight.

Both cars lost control when they T-boned and flew off the road landing in the ditch on the side of William Nicol. When paramedics arrived they found both vehicles had no passenger and the drivers were outside of their vehicles with only slight injuries.

The driver of the white BMW had vomited all over himself which is allegedly the cause of the accident. Both drivers where visibly drunk.

A fight then ensued between the two drivers resulting in them punching each other.

Paramedics and tow truck drivers had to pull the two apart, both drivers then turned on the paramedics and tow truck drivers. Police were called to the scene to arrest the arrest.

Again just minutes later two more accident reports were received, paramedics split up attending to both.

A driver had lost control of his car on Sloane Street near William Nicol and had knocked over a red robot, going straight across William Nicol, ramping up an embankment with the front of his car lading on a cement block.

Once again the driver was lucky to escape with no injuries but was also driving under the influence of alcohol.

Police were called to attend to the scene to arrest him for driving over the limit.

The other accident occurred on Witkoppen Road, Fourways a woman was trying to make a U-Turn over the grassy island between the roads.

She was safely waiting on the grass for the road to clear, when a speeding driver heading in the direction of Sunninghill, veered off the road crashing into her vehicle. He then continued driving, trying to escape from the scene.

Tow truck drivers who has witnessed the accident chased after him, while others blocked the road ahead of him. His car eventually broke down bringing him to a halt. Police officers were called to the scene to intervene. Luckily no one was injured in this accident.

Then at around 2am the last call of the night was received for an accident in Midrand, when paramedics arrived they found that the police, fire department and provincial ambulance were already on scene.

A man had been driving when he hit a speed bump at high speed, forcing his car to roll, the car landed in the veldt.

The driver was being treated for a head wound and deep gash in his chin.

He was in a stable condition. It is alleged that he fell asleep at the wheel of the car.

DON?T DRINK AND DRIVE

DON?T DRINK AND DRIVE

The majority of these accidents were the result of drinking and driving. Think before you drink and drive or you may end up killing yourself or other motorists.

Emer-G-Med:

082-358-9706 or 082-358-9708

Follow Emer-G-Med, K9 and SAR Unit on twitter:

@EMER_G_MED

@K9_UNIT_GP

@SAR_K9_Unit

@SAR_K9_UnitW

Writer has been recently dealing in this column with the effects of community complacency and trying to highlight that this is one of the main community attitudes that criminals feed off. This last week or so as seen a surge in criminal activity especially in the Broadacres, Lonehill and surrounding areas with many of the crimes or attempts being fuelled by community complacency.

Many of the reported incidents relate to persons going to bed, leaving windows and doors unsecured, especially in complexes, only to wake in the morning to find that they have parted ways with some of their possessions with an emphasis on laptops, plasma screen TVs, Ipads, cellphones and small portable valuables. The same applies to persons who go away on leave and their premises unlocked and unsecured. The fact is that by simple and basic precaution such as securing windows and doors, activating alarms and ensuring valuables are not unattended in plain view of anyone looking into windows (even drawing the curtains would help), many such incidents of crime would be avoided. Furthermore by criminals succeeding in their quest to relieve owners of their valuables in circumstance of ease and complacency, the invitation to conduct more criminal activity in our precinct grows not to mention so does the danger of confrontation with residents in their homes.

The issue of car remote lock jamming is a further illustration of complacency. Whilst some claim the use of jammers is urban legend and others say remote signal jamming is not only possible but operating in our precinct, the fact remains that we have a massive surge of reports of theft out of motor vehicles of valuables and in many instances again basic precautions would have led to such crimes being avoided.

Lock valuables out of sight in your boot and physically check your vehicles are locked by trying the handles before going about your business. Even without remote jamming it is remarkable how many community members forget to secure their vehicles when going about their lives.

A little time for basic precaution leads to a safer and crime free precinct for us all.

Douglasdale SAPS have been given eight new unmarked detective vehicles and four more police vans; these were given to the station by province. With more vehicles on the road the police can go back to operating with two police vehicle per sector as well as ensuring better visible policing.

These extra recourses will also help to make more arrests. The police vehicles that were in need of repair and a service will be back at the station shortly.

Station upgrades
Douglasdale CPF spent more than R30 000 on station upgrades during December 2011, these included painting, garden maintenance, re-painting of the parking bays and laid more gravel, fixed up the lighting and add new signage.

The parking lot palisade fence and electric fence were also repaired after a drunk driver crashed through it in November, 2011.

Online and Social Media
MyFourways, the community news website for Fourways and surrounds, has entered into an agreement with the Douglasdale CPF to maintain and update the Douglasdale CPF website and social media sites i.e. facebook and twitter.

Maraschino Media and Marketing, a social media company will also maintain and update the social sites. In doing this the Douglasdale CPF will be able to provide real time crime reporting.

Follow Douglasdale CPF on facebook and twitter
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Douglasdale-CPF/248030285251660
twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/DouglasdaleCPF

2012 Developments
Douglasdale CPF have been given permission to fundraise and liaise for the construction of the brand new state of the art police station. The CPF are consulting with town planners. Further detailed announcements will follow shortly.

Festive Season
SAPS road block and site visits were well received over the festive period, the crime rates is event lower than this time last year.

Douglasdale CPF are pleased with the community / police relationship at present and look forward to continuing and building them in 2012.

OUR VISION:

To be the most organized, efficient, well trained and prepared and best publicised Community Policing Forum in South Africa supporting our police station, cluster and province where the members of the public can interact with our precinct police in all matters aware of our exemplary record of crime combatting, crime investigations and successful convictions in a corruption free environment with zero tolerance towards any crime in our precinct.

OUR GOALS FOR 2012

1. To launch the fundraising campaign, finalise the funding and commence the construction of a brand new state of the art police station with all relevant role players and our community;
2. To acquire 5 additional police vehicles from state and private funding to replace units approaching their kilometre ceiling;
3. To introduce, after appropriate training from the SAPS, at least 40 additional Reservists and 40 CPF members into service in support of the various anti-crime initiatives in progress and to be launched and to hold a series of public participation activities;
4. To improve annuity income resources for all aspects of the CPF activities including social upliftment, youth desk, victim support teams, supplementary police training courses, maintenance and repairs to SAPS facilities and equipment where needed;
5. The streamlining, standardizing and simplifying of administration processes in line with our new constitution;

Following on the lull in criminal activity over the festive season and up until last week, there has been an uptick in certain types of criminal activity in the last week in the Douglasdale Police precinct with the most concerning being several housebreakings or attempts thereat and in one instance in the Beverley area a family was held up in their home in the early hours of Saturday morning 20^th January.

The Douglasdale Community Policing Forum wishes to remind all its precinct residents that despite the continuing police successes in reducing overall crime statistics, there is simply no room for complacency or laxity when it comes to home and business security. In fact, criminal elements count on such security laxity at times of anti-crime successes to ply their trade and part residents and owners with their property.

I wish to urge all our precinct businesses and residents to re commit themselves afresh to vigilance and diligence in all areas of security and if in doubt call for advice and assistance. All suspicious activity ought to be reported immediately to the Police and relevant client security services provider and all alarms, gates and other security equipment kept well maintained, activated and locked. Pro activity and awareness are two attributes that are essential companions for us all if we are to ultimately prevail in the fight against crime as a people who are united and prepared in their response to criminals cannot be defeated.

The recent release of a report by Dr Johan Burger of the Institute of Security Studies highlights the fact that many South Africans are relying on armed response companies for residential and business safety. Quoting figures from the Institute of Race Relations, 4500 security companies existed in South Africa in 2005 and this had increased to 7500 companies by 2010 representing a more than 60% increase. Remarkably the number of security guards employed increased by a staggering 236% over the same period.

Burger went on to state that clearly this increase can be ascribed to generally higher crime levels but that the ideal situation was that security companies should work hand in hand with the Police Service rather than replace them. SAPS Douglasdale Commanders operate a security company co-ordination meeting weekly with area Security Company operatives operating in the Douglasdale SAPS precinct and this shall be emphasized more in the coming months. I urge all security company operators to contact SAPS station command and get involved in such meetings if they are not doing so already.

Let’s all play our part to keep our precinct and all its people safe in 2012.

Christmas has come and gone and 2012 is upon us with most of our residents of the precinct back from well-deserved holidays and breaks. Thankfully the crime rate over the Christmas period in Douglasdale precinct was very low matching and in some categories lower than last year’s record lows. That said, it is obviously critical that complacency in all our vigilance against crime is not allowed to creep in and the fact that any one crime is one crime too many.

The Douglasdale Community Policing Forum has a comprehensive action plan for 2012 and will be systematically launching this over the next few months. You the members of the community are urged to participate by getting involved. New security initiatives are in the process of being launched, our public relations and website and social media pages have been revamped and put under active management and substantial CPF SAPS joint activities planned.

We have secured the assistance of a top audit firm to assist with upgrades to systems and processes and they will also be networking the CPF with fundraising opportunities. Additionally, we have been granted permission as the first Policing Forum in the province to complete fundraising for a new state of the art police station to be built out on Cedar Road and we are aiming at a collected budget of R40 million with a substantial portion hereof already pledged by a particular donor.

From the SAPS Douglasdale side, there have been substantial improvements in policing capabilities with 8 new detective vehicles having arrived shortly before Christmas giving the detective services a fourfold increase in capability. This last week four brand new marked police vehicles were handed over to SAPS Douglasdale by Province improving policing capabilities and sector policing even further with additional vehicles on the way.

We are seeking volunteers that are prepared to undergo training and then to be deployed at the Douglasdale Police Station to meet and greet members of the public attending the station, directing them to points of assistance and ensuring they receive the service levels they need for various matters ranging from reporting crimes and vehicle accidents to commissioner of oaths and firearm licence collections to family/domestic violence and child protection issues.

Let’s make 2012 the safest and most crime free year yet for all our community members and it starts with each one of us. To get involved please contact Sharon O Brien on sharonobrien@telkomsa.net or 082 9005944.

Jean Berdou

Chair Douglasdale Community Policing Forum