Lakefield residents in a security turmoil
Lakefield residents are in turmoil following the withdrawal of a security services company from their area.
This apparently followed the refusal by CMS to tender for the new contract to provide security in the affluent suburb.
CMS was responsible for security in Lakefield for over six years, until Thursday, last week, when the contract ended.
The Lakewest Residents Association said that they had held a meeting with CMS owner Manny Ferreirinha prior to the developments.
“We wanted the best security for our area, so we opened a tender process to give others a chance and asked the CMS to provide a quote as well,” said the association.
This apparently angered Ferreirinha, who then refused and tendered his resignation with almost immediate effect.
However, the two parties then agreed that CMS would remove its equipment, which included surveillance cameras, from the area, without damaging any infrastructure.
The agreement also stated that the residents’ safety should still be paramount, irrespective of this process.
“But, on Thursday, as it happened, some infrastructure, along with council property was left damaged,” said the association.
“Boom gate relays were vandalised and remained dysfunctional for three to four days, and the electric box supplying electricity to the guard house was damaged; this left the residents safety at risk.
“The whole thing has caused confusion among community members, who don’t know what’s happening.
“Fortunately, the new security company, Saber, was on hand and stepped up to the mark to protect all the residents.
“Given all the damage, Saber has given us assurances that all infrastructure will be totally operational again — at an even higher level of security — within the next two weeks.
“In the meantime, they have three unmarked vehicles and two marked vehicles doing constant patrols, along with two guards at each boom.”
The association added that it is considering legal action.
Ferreirinha confirmed that he had a meeting with the committee and that his company has moved out of Lakefield.
He denied damaging any infrastructure.
“All the security infrastructure removed, including the cables, belong to us,” he said.
He also denied damaging the boom gates.
“When you switch them off they automatically go up and you just have to power them for them to function again,” he explained.
According to Ferreirinha, no one has approached him with the damage claims.
“If it can be proven that we damaged anything we will send our electricians to fix it,” he said, adding that one of the committee members was present when the infrastructure was being removed.
Ferreirinha also said that he has left the islands behind, even though they have cost his company a lot of money.
