Police support Domestic Watch

The meetings are held on the second last Thursday of the month at Sun Valley’s La Fiorentina Restaurant on the corners of Bridle Pass and Champion roads.

Bonnie Friedman hosts the meetings as part of the Making A Difference Campaign’s Domestic Watch Crime Prevention programme, co-ordinated by Penny Steyn.

Friedman said Sun Valley had a loyal group of domestic workers who attended the meetings monthly and said they were enthusiastic to learn crime prevention tips.

Friedman invited Midrand police’s Captain Lionel Chetty to speak. He said there was not a lot of crime in the Sun Valley area, only one to three crimes a month but he said the “sad part” was that where there was crime, it was generally serious, with rape and assault common occurrences during housebreakings. He urged domestic workers to send any crime tip-offs to the anonymous crime tip-off line 32211 or to Midrand police.

Since the last meeting, the domestic workers said they did not know of any crimes that had taken place.

Chetty added that it was important to be clear on the phone when reporting a crime and to explain where the crime took place and whether or not it had just happened, was about to happen, or was in the process of happening so the police could respond accordingly.

Friedman handed out leaflets on the month’s lesson on gates, and educated the domestic workers about being careful when letting someone onto their employers’ properties.

After the meeting, they enjoyed refreshments and caught up on the suburb’s news from each other.

Friedman thanked Pierre Hefer of Sun Valley Residents’ Association for his support.

The next meeting will be held on 20 March at La Fiorentina.