RESIDENTS of Hillary and Mount Vernon met on Monday this week to address a spike in crime in the area.

The street meeting, which was called for by the Mount Vernon Delta’s, a local neighbourhood watch (NHW) group, brought together residents and the Bellair SAPS.

Property crimes and thefts on Hillary Road, Victoria Road and Bernard Shaw Road were mentioned, with some residents present at the meeting sharing their own incidents of crime.

Rabin Singh, who led the meeting, encouraged residents to communicate with their neighbours and consider nominating street captains on each road or to begin active patrols in the area.

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“The majority of the crimes reported have been during the day between 09:00 and 11:00, when most people are at work. We have proposed the formation of street captains, at minimum three, on each road in the Mount Vernon area to address crime. In that way we can be the eyes that protect and speak out when they see things. The street captains would report directly to a WhatsApp group run by the Delta’s to address any crime or medical emergency,” he said.

Singh was joined by fellow Delta’s, Riki Devnarain and Kaven Reddy, who also spoke about the importance of community unity.

“Why we’ve also mentioned street patrols is that we need to provide a visible presence that deters criminal activity. We know this has worked in the past because we had a large network of patrollers in the past. I’ve monitored criminal activity from neighbouring uMhlatuzana and they were able to, through concerted efforts, force the criminals out of the area because they were more visible once crime had gotten worse,” explained Devnarain.

Captain Prithviraj Kumar, the Visible Policing (Vispol) Commander of Bellair police station, was also at the meeting and encouraged residents to report crime.

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“While we’ve seen reports on WhatsApp groups of incidents in the area, the stats at the station reveal that from December 1 to December 14, only three cases were reported. We are encouraging residents to report crime no matter how ‘petty’ it may seem. This in turn helps us to allocate resources and enhance community safety,” he said.

• Residents interested in being named street captains should contact Rabin Singh on 071 396 2040 or Riki Devnarain on 082 414 1147.

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