Held at the Honeydew Police Station
on Thursday 25 March 2010 at 19h00
Present:
Neville Burnett – 011 476 1941 – Riverwel RA
Barbara Sabbione – speyer@iburst.co.za – 076 914 2855 - Devon Valley
Piet Ungerer – piet@dcsared.co.za – 0828876468 – DCS Security
Anton Venter – anton@c-pro.co.za – 082 820 8553 – Welview
Kevin Thomson–kevinrwra@telkomsa.net–072 238 0348 - Riverwel RA
Sim Amallos – 011 679 1235 – 072 504 1887 – Panorama, Plot 16 H/Potgieter
John Borradaile – jborradaile@stefstocks.com - Welview
Len Frank – len.frank@dekra.co.za – Welview
Constable Fotso – 079 895 0769 – SAPS
Swazi Coetzee – swazic@statusmark.co.za – 073 150 6913
Cornelius Flikweert – jgflikweert@hotmail.com – 082 379 5261 – Drift Reaction
Margaret West – margaretw@sanlam4u.co.za – 082 292 8356 – Riverwel
Apologies:
Sharon Kibur
Sipke de Vries
Peter Molokomme
WELCOME AND APOLOGIES
Neville welcomed all to the meeting and noted that there was an improvement in the area – thanks must go to Constable Fotso for trying to make a difference. An example of this is that there was a problem at 29 Wildebraam and it took the police only 3 minutes to arrive.
ACCEPTANCE OF PREVIOUS MINUTES
Anton Venter and Kevin Thomson
MATTERS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MINUTES
Neville mentioned that a representative from Sector 3 is needed for CPF meetings. It can be done on a rotational basis.
The GPSs bought by the CPF were only meant to be installed in the sector vehicles. The people using them needed to be instructed on how to use them effectively. Somehow, like other projects, this seems to have failed.
Because the crime is so bad, Constable Fotso suggested that each street have one dedicated security company patrolling it, but this would not work.
LOITERERS AND CRIME
Corner Jim Fouche/J G Strijdom
Corner Rinyani/Jim Fouche
Both these areas are where casual labourers survive because people make use of them. Anton Venter has sent a letter to Welview residents to discourage the use of them.
J G Strijdom/Cornelius – 11 people were arrested for drinking. Constable Fotso.
Corner Ouhout/Ridge Terrace Park has had a lot of drug dealing going on.
Swazi reported that they tried to get townhouses involved in clearing out squatters on the park, but to no avail. Willowhout is the only complex that wants to do anything, despite the fact that the complexes are being robbed regularly. Barbara wants to remove swings, to discourage people from partying there.
However, Barbara said these areas have subsequently been cleared and the park now seems under control.
Left hand side of the road near McDonalds on the N1 intersection with Beyers Naude does not belong to JHB Roads Agency, but the right hand side does. Both areas have been cleaned out.
The Spar at Lobelia is having problems with break-ins because loiterers are drinking there.
Spar at Cornelius, a patrol was carried out. Constable Fotso.
Sector 3 is at the top of crime rates because people have not learnt to do the basics!! Weltevreden Park has too many burglaries, car thefts because of complacency. People still leave gates open, cars outside and do not secure their gates.
Riverwel want to create a website with labourers’ details to prevent them from hanging around.
Subject of which telephone number to use??
Neville said phone 10111, but insist on the name of the person you are speaking to and also get a reference number.
Piet Ungerer phones the ops room which is the main contact point for Honeydew Police station.
Kevin says sometimes the cell is being answered in ops room, which can then radio the vehicle. It has become evident that the vehicles are not carrying the cellphones.
Can still phone the ops room, 011 801 8613/4/5 then 10111. Switchboard does not operate at night, so 011 801 8400 should go through to ops room.
Report back FROM CPF GENERAL MEETING
Kevin T said there was a full attendance.
Anton said that people are too complacent about all the strange people in our areas.
The Station Commander has ruled that beggars are to be discouraged, therefore do not give them food or any form of help.
City parks - grass cutting is poor, there were no city parks reps at the CPF meeting!
Sector Managers will share a vehicle between two sectors.
Neville wants us to phone him/Constable Fotso if a vehicle is not available.
Honeydew CPF has money but is reluctant to part with it for an extra vehicle, because these should be provided by Honeydew station.
Kevin thinks that Honeydew is waiting for the MEC to organize more vehicles, but because the MEC knows we have the money, they are holding back on the funds.
Fotso says other sectors have made use of domestic workers to help fight crime. This has already been addressed a couple of times by DCS and Riverwel by providing meetings for domestic workers to be trained in the basics.
There is a new appointment at Honeydew who is in charge of Sectors, she is Captain Lamprecht.
Please provide to Neville any questions for the CPF so that he can pose them at the meetings.
(Human rights day – there were 12 vehicles and 84 policemen active – the problem is that this was a once-off activity)
SAPS REPORT BACK
Ridge Terrace Hardware complained that some people tried to sell them gas cylinders. (they were probably stolen)
If any operation is needed, first talk to Constable Fotso, who will send an application to the Captain.
If this is formal, they may make use of JMPD plus security companies.
There has been a complaint about people behind Builders Warehouse, on
5 March at 20:10 and 9 March at 1:45.
Crime statistics – do not really help the public.
Kevin Thomson has indicated that crime statistics really have no meaning – everyone knows crime is there all the time and unless major changes are made in conviction rates and jailing of criminals we will still have a crime problem. Everyone needs to be vigilant all the time. If we had a valid drop of 50% in the crime rate, that would be worth reporting.
Kevin suggested that having a map pinpointing worst affected places would be of worth.
If Constable Fotso wants to do something really constructive, then it would be appreciated if she brought this map to the next meeting to highlight where crimes take place, rather than talk statistics.
Resident association’s + resident’s reports and questions
Anton Venter’s area has been quiet. Only problem seems just outside shopping centre up Rinyani.
There is a bottle store that is being targeted by loiterers. The park at the cnr Rinyani/Melkbos streets lends itself to loiterers.
Barbara asked Anton about Euro Butchery being threatened because of bottle store?
Len Frank has suggested that there are people from outside our area who are coming in to pick up labourers. These contractors do not seem to have their own labourers.
There was someone from Benoni who was working in Weltevreden Park and it appears that there was a problem with payment of wages, which leads to crime in our area.
Neville said there have been a number of incidents in Wildebraam & Without streets.
Piet Ungerer said Hyacinth street needs some crime prevention action as the vagrants are probably illegal immigrants. Constable Fotso to investigate.
CPF – there are no holding cells for criminals. This needs to be followed up on a constant basis at the CPF meetings.
The process for arresting criminals is both time consuming and a lot of work because duplicate administrative work has to be carried out, first at Honeydew station and then at the police station to which the criminals are taken. This discourages the police from arresting criminals.
There needs to be follow up on how many cases came out of however many arrests were made to ensure that dockets are not “lost” or purposely removed and that the criminals get convicted and put in jail. Constable Fotso said that she would not be allowed to provide these figures.
Honeydew station needs to increase the number of patrols – this does not appear to be happening. Instead of being consistent they are spasmodic.
There was another armed robbery at Weltevreden Park Spar today (25 March 2010) at 1pm – W Park is just not safe.
55 Hyacinth – there was an armed robbery last night.
The Parks Dept and National Roads Agency must clean up greenbelt. Anybody who does not look like a resident should be asked where they are from or going to. Business Against Crime started doing this.
Constable Fotso is very lucky to have us because we voice our opinions and provide a huge amount of information which benefits Honeydew Station in the prevention of crime. What we are doing is actually Honeydew Station’s work.
Anton said that this is the first time that there is evidence that certain things have been happening.
Neville must try to get together with other sectors to complain about the lack of holding cells. This does happen at the CPF meetings.
If the Commander is serious about getting rid of beggars then she needs to look at the women who beg with their babies/toddlers with them at the various intersections, like John Vorster/J G Strijdom and Hendrik Potgieter/Albert streets. There is also a woman who begs at Rock Cottage.
The Fairlands cops are doing raids under FNB building just off the motorway.
Along Rugby Rd there are squatters moving in there – can Honeydew help? Constable Fotso?
Barbara will speak to the Station Commander.
Kevin Thomson said that Captain Lamprecht reported in the Northside Chronicle – Kevin wants more details. Captain Lamprecht is good with the right tools and people.
Constable Fotso – her job is sector manager – she has been doing the work. Also, please call her in order to ensure she is kept helping us. She had been to the back of Rebel Farmers and visited Sim Amallos.
Holding cells have been an issue for years. Honeydew is rented property and this is probably why no permanent buildings are being made.
It seems no one wants to put money into Honeydew Police Station. This has been a problem for 50 years. Each commander was offered various alternate areas – then they were turned down.
Constable Fotso says this cannot be changed.
The absence of holding cells was raised at the last CPF meeting and the answer is to take criminals to Randburg or Roodepoort. The problem is that vehicles are then needed to take them there. There are not enough vehicles and often not enough space in whatever vehicles are available.
Constable Fotso says that if criminals are arrested and dropped at the station, then the police do not want the responsibility to drive them elsewhere or the extra administration.
Constable Fotso says that transportation has improved to go from staff homes to the police station and back.
Piet Ungerer says they should get a bus to transport the staff. Police vehicles should not be used for this task.
There are problems with the police not doing their duty at shift changes. An example is the fight that happened at Maties Pub (date????), where some guys had been drinking, a guy got hit and went to fetch his gun. The police were called but because it was at shift change, no one wanted to attend to the call.
Kevin has pointed out the problem of shift changes and tried to raise the issue on a number of occasions – it seems to no avail.
Constable Fotso says our meetings are too small – the area is too huge, not enough people are coming to these meetings – they are all too complacent.
However, Anton says various people in the Resident’s Associations actually represent > 1000 people.
Star supplement – need R40 000 worth of advertising for the Star supplement for the Honeydew CPF. If anyone can assist please contact Carmel of the CPF.
079 895 0769 is the work cell for our sector manager – Constable Fotso
NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be held on Thursday 29th April 2010 at 19h00 in the SAPS Board room.
