Get involved in the fight against crime

THE new chairperson of the Berea Sector one is urging communities to band together to fight crime.

According to Des Moodley, who moved from Cape Town to Durban a year ago, he has noticed people in the area live their individual lives in isolation.

“I joined the Berea CPF and have been very radical in the way the area should be run and have implemented new ideas which worked well in Cape Town,” he said.

He said residents needed to go back 'to the old days' with the idea of community and knowing their neighbours. “They are the fastest people to respond in a crisis, and until I started this campaign, I hadn't met my neighbours,” he said.

Moodley said he noticed not enough residents were attending community crime meetings and with the escalation of crime in the area, some of these crimes weren't being reported to the police.

“People are so fed up and only report incidents for insurance purposes, so we are not getting a true reflection of the crime stats for the area. I decided to do a meet and greet with residents to mobilise residents in the area. This has been highly successful. We hope to start a WhatsApp group, implement more cameras and have more street guards in the area. People need to report incidents to the police or on the Berea CPF page so proper stats can be created, which will be a true reflection of what's happening in the area,” he said.

Moodley highlighted some of the common crimes happening in the area. He said with load shedding, theft of cars had increased. “With the break in load shedding at the moment, we are out of the danger zone for now,” he said.

He said criminals were using the blue Nova gate remotes for remote jamming, and were putting them in match boxes.

“The remote fits perfectly in the box and this is closed. The criminal can press the button when it is closed to jam car remotes. Motorists have the tendency to be complacent and leave valuables in their cars, which creates temptation. Always double check your doors are locked manually when leaving your vehicle,” he said.

He said people needed to understand that expensive security measures such as electric fencing and CCTV cameras were only temporary measures to slow thieves down.

Moodley took Berea Mail on a walk about in the Kilburn Avenue, Caister Avenue and Musgrave Road area, showing how thieves had stolen copper house numbers and destroyed and removed intercoms.

“Simple things can be stolen and sold for scrap, you need to walk around your properties and assess items. Be aware on windy and rainy days where you hear noises which you think is a result of the weather, the weather doesn't deter criminals,” he said.

He encouraged residents to attend the Sector one meeting at DHS on 17 September at 6pm, where they can get involved in the fight against crime in the area.