Foley new Sector 4 chair

The election for the new committee was held in the Indaba Hotel’s auditorium on 12 August and saw a turn out of about 25 people.

The newly-elected committee members will still have to undergo a background check to ensure they are not linked to criminal activity.

Douglasdale Community Police Forum chairperson Jean Berdou said he wanted the elected committee to represent the geographical area of the sector. The suburbs that make up the sector are Beverley, Lonehill, Magaliessig, Little Fourways, Montecasino, Douglasdale around Fourways High and Norscot.

Foley and Nic Papas, both Beverley residents, were nominated for the chairperson position by the floor but Foley snitched the title in the vote.

Willem Hazewindus of Lonehill was elected as deputy chairperson, and Peter Rosema of Beverley was elected as secretary. Lonehill’s Sally Pearson said she would help Rosema where possible.

Frieda Boiles of Beverley is the public relations consultant and Anne de Witt of Little Fourways is the crime intelligence officer.

Representatives from Magaliessig, Norscot, Montecasino, Lonehill and Beverley are on the greater committee.

Berdou said after the re-shuffle from six sectors to four, Sector 4 was the last sector to form a committee. He said the re-shuffle was sparked by resource and control driven issues.

He warned there were three main types of crime in Sector 4, namely theft out of motor vehicles, common robbery and house robbery. Berdou said there were different layers of security for the various crimes and the new committee would need to teach the community to be alert. He also suggested a neighbourhood watch should be implemented for the community to work together and show visibility to lower crime.

Berdou said better community policing relations were needed and suggested community functions as a way to help the community to unite and socialise. He said it was also important for the security service providers to work together to build crime intelligence.

The newly-elected committee will need to attend monthly sector meetings in order to implement these measures.