Residents of Faerie Glen have beefed up their security after a spate of house robberies in the area in the past few months.
The concerned residents have established a homeowners’ association to drive the Block 4 Security Village initiative.
On Saturday morning, the Block 4 committee gathered at the intersection of Selikats Causeway and Manitoba Street to recruit fellow residents for the effort.
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Initiative chairperson Louw Middel said the escalating number of robberies in the area got the community together.
“We took it upon ourselves to do something about it (crime). We already have security systems in our homes, but we are always under attack from criminals. After voluntarily establishing this initiative, we came up with a plan to combat crime,” he said.
Middel said it was very important to have visible monitoring throughout.
“Every day we see different people walk past our streets and sometimes it is a suspicious-looking vehicle parked near your house; so it gets difficult to detect who’s doing what in this area.
“But one thing I noticed is that we have scouts who drive around all day and target our homes.”
He said the initial plan was to deploy four security guards at the major entrances to Block 4 in Faerie Glen.
“We are in the process of placing a guard house at each point to monitor activity and report on suspicious vehicles and persons. Having guards here could help us reduce not only the high levels of crime but unwanted movements especially during the day when many of us are at work.”
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Middel said although a long term goal was to set up access control, visible monitoring was the first objective.
“Our main objective is to enhance and increase security. Having this sort of initiative brings communities closer and working with police and security companies shows that you can actually have permanent eyes and ears within your community,” he said.
Bennie Coetzee of ADT security said he was pleased with the community’s response.
He said about 480 residents needed to sign up for ADT to supply four guard houses but he was confident more people would contribute.
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