I wholeheartedly agree with Annemarie. I have been living in Obs for almost 2 years now and have been mugged/ assulted/ robbed 4 times in various area's of Obs. I am a young woman, and do not feel safe at all walking alone in Obs, be it broad daylight or at night. I have since purchased a stun gun, but am constantly looking over my shoulder even when walking up to Pick n Pay, as I just do not feel safe.
Just the other week a young lady and 2 of her male friends (from one of the backpackers) were held up at gunpoint in lower Trill Rd at 10pm. This is unacceptable! We need to act and act NOW, as it is clear Obs is being overrun with these thugs. Regards, Kerry West On Feb 16, 1:35 pm, "Annemarie du Bois" <adub...@asrin.co.za> wrote: > Dear David , > > The news of yet another innocent life taken by thugs , fills me with sadness > and anger at the same time. However we need to take action and learn > from this incident once again, as sad it is.!! Our suburb is being > regarded as a danger zone with all this publicity and as we have innocent > young people, including our own children, the elderly , visitors and our own > lives to consider, we need to act now with force and effective measures. > The innocent do not walk around with guns or a knives as the thugs do. > UCT, if need be, need to club into our security system and take > responsibility too. > > I am not sure what can be done and whether Kotze Street falls into our Obs > patrolling area. . However this could have happened anywhere else in OBS. > I do not believe we have enough patrolling of streets at all even with our > current improved measures. > > I am still of the opinion that the guards are not 100% serious about their > roles. They very often seem to be in groups of 2 or 3 or 4 with much > chatting in between, as I have noticed. . I honestly believe they are not > visible enough. We need them spread out and not congregating in groups > here and there only. We need to bump into them all over if that is at > all possible. We need to be able to recognise them too. Their outfits > makes them look like every other guard from the hospital or other > organisation. One cannot recognise them so easily. Whether that is > good or bad, I am not sure as we do not know who we can call for help. > They are not standing out. I realise the idea is to have them listed > on a cell, but sometimes in such stressful moments, it is difficult to make > a call , explain where you are etc. I do not even carry a cell on me when > walking in the streets . However if they are in closer range , one can at > least alert them or get someone to alert them for you. > > I want to propose that we have security huts with guards at each busy > intersection e.g.. Kotze Road to patrol that area, day and night. The top > of Wrench Rd,, Lower Main Road intersection, down at the rail line , Trill > Road etc etc. in fact all over the area we are covering. These huts can > be strategically placed all over OBS and especially near roads used by thugs > and other hot spots. I live in Morley and I want to propose that > we get a hut on the corner of Herschell again which covers Herschell, London > and Morley Roads which is very often used by thugs coming from main road as > a short cut to station. We had one of the ADT huts there before and > this worked well, but few people were paying ADT , so this service was > discontinued.. A map can be worked out of where these huts must go. > This would mean that each resident knows where to run for help in an > emergency. Each resident will have the huts cell no. and in emergency can > call it for instant assistance or run there and get help. There can be a > group of guards which do back up work for certain sections as and when > needed in emergency. > > This system works extremely well for the Kenilworth /Gibson Road area and is > highly effective. Thugs know they are being watched. My kids live there > and I can get him to explain this system to you. The residents pay their > own security guards. They are therefore not connected to any other large > organisation. They are directly responsible to the residents. We have > Vetus Schola and therefore I am sure this system can be rolled out > effectively if the funds allow it. I regard security as OBS' s main > priority, before cleaning or anything else. Nice to have all clean and > neat and improving all the tine and a big thanks for that. However , > thugs would think twice to venture into roads where huts positioned and > where they can be monitored. The main stations will or should try and > cover most of the little side roads too. . The station is another > important point. They need to pass all these roads to get to any > other roads in any case and this will most likely make the them very > uneasy. These security guys need to be trained to vigilant and pro > active and never be off guard, which seems to often the case, as I have > noticed. > > I noticed a guy in Herschell Road late yesterday afternoon who then > walked around the block and back up Trill Road looking into each and every > car. There was nobody else in the street and he did not hear my vehicle > following him. He was clearly circling the area. I have seen him > before doing exactly the same. SAPS was too busy at that time to apprehend > him after I followed him for 15min and all the time keeping in contact with > SAPS to meet up with him. However yesterday, when he walked past the > Spar car park I called VS guards to apprehend him and chase him out of the > area if necessary. However he will be back for sure. > > Please I urge you as the committee to consider this proposal and if need be > lets meet and trash it out. I have ADT armed response in place however very > very seldom need them. They cannot get into our property in any case., > however thugs can. I hardly ever see them in any case. If we can get > thugs off our streets and dealt with by the law, we can drop ADT and rather > contribute to this privatised system, I am sure it will be a lot more > effective and save lives. If this can however be covered by the > OBS 's initiative funds, so much the better. > > Your comment will be appreciated. > > Kind regards > > Annemarie -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" group. To post to this group, send email to obsnw@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to obsnw-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en
