‘Trail Guardians’ project to combat Delta Park crime
DELTA PARK – The Jozi Trails team was proud to showcase the launch of their ‘Trail Guardian’ project at an event held at the Delta Park Environmental Centre on 10 April.
To combat crime in Spruit areas, the Jozi Trails team was proud to showcase the launch of their Trail Guardian project at an event held at the Delta Park Environmental Centre on 10 April.
In recent months, Randburg Sun has covered various instances of an alarming rise in crime affecting users of Delta Park and other parts of the Braamfontein Spruit. Many neighbouring residents and users of these parks have expressed their concern and frustration and have called for action to address the problem.
Jozi Trails chairperson Albert van Urk said rather than relying on under-resourced authorities to solve the problem of crime in the park, Jozi Trails had called on the community to work with the authorities and other role players to tackle the issue.
“With support and cooperation of the police, Metro police, City Parks and Zoo, several community policing forums, local security service providers and residents’ associations, Jozi Trails has set up the first-ever community volunteer patrols to improve the safety and security of all people who make use of Delta Park and the nearby sections of the spruit,” said Van Urk.
The project will be piloted initially in Delta Park and will eventually be put into practice along the rest of the 37km-long trails.
Community volunteers, wearing high visibility vests supplied by City Parks and carrying communication devices linked to a central call centre, patrol the area in groups twice per day, once in the morning from 6.30am to 8am and again in the late afternoon from 4pm to 8pm.
“The Trail Guardians patrol a designated safe route around the park. They observe and report anything suspicious to the security service providers, who once alerted, can dispatch a vehicle to investigate. To date there have been over 65 citizens that have signed up as volunteers.”
The project is overseen by an ad hoc committee that has representatives of all role players, including the police, Metro Police and City Parks and Zoo’s park rangers.
“The project kicked off 13 March and there have been daily patrols throughout the week since then. The results so far have been a significant reduction in crime incidents in the patrolled area.
“The Trail Guardians project is, to our knowledge, the first initiative of its kind and represents a constructive partnership between ordinary community members, law enforcement and municipal authorities. We intend to develop the project into a successful model that can be replicated and adapted by other communities in Johannesburg and Gauteng.”
Jozi Trails is an NGO that has a partnership agreement with City Parks to develop, maintain and protect the public nature trails along the Braamfontein Spruit.
The organisation has been working since 2017 to make sure that the trails are an accessible, attractive and safe leisure and tourist green asset of the city that is enjoyed by all citizens of and visitors to Johannesburg.
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