Neighbourhood Watch short on volunteers and members [Watch]
The residential side of Ballito with more than 1 000 households is covered by the patrols, but only 200 are paid-up members.
The Ballito Neighbourhood Watch needs more volunteers to boost night street patrols.
Chairperson Morné Steffens and spokesperson Gary Frances, told the Courier that during the July lootings last year many residents joined the patrols, but once normality was restored people began losing interest and work commitments prevented many others from continuing as volunteers.
“We have a 2-hour shift every night and currently 48 volunteers listed. Sometimes illness or other reasons prevent volunteers from doing patrols, which then causes problems. The more patrollers we have, the better,
“We do not require patrollers to be armed, we just need people to drive around for 2 hours and report any suspicious activity,” said Steffens.
“Neighbourhood Watch patrollers do not arrest people. We are just the ears and eyes on the ground and should we pick up on something, we inform the police or security companies,” said Frances.
The residential side of Ballito with more than 1 000 households is covered by the patrols, but only 200 are paid-up members.
“The more members we have, the more we can fund more effective security measures.
“Sniper” cameras, for example, have helped with the arrest of several criminals and the recovery of stolen vehicles,’ said Steffens.
“Although more cameras are not needed at this stage, everything has a lifespan and at some point some will have to be replaced. This is where more members and their membership fees come in.”
Another issue is broken streetlight which negatively affect patrols.
“For example, there are streetlights at the park on Zen Drive, but they are out of order. This results in criminals now using the park as a gateway route. Working lights will help solve the problem,” said Steffens.
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