Support these crime busters

WITH last year seeing a considerable increase in residential burglaries in the greater Margate area, Ramsgate Crime Watch is urging residents to support this crime-busting initiative.

“The stats are not pretty,” said crime watch chairman Morne Kruger, adding that with unemployment sitting at a massive 25 percent in South Africa and a new set of scholars entering the market place, we could expect these figures to rise.

When it came to crime Ramsgate was no exception, though over the course of the past six months a fantastic partnership between the SAPS, Maser Security, Wolf Security, Ramsgate Crime Watch and local residents had resulted in a numerous and regular arrests as well as the recovery of stolen goods directly attributed to this partnership, he said.

“Ramsgate Crime Watch is a sub-committee of Ramsgate Community Policing Forum and its success is been two fold. Firstly, we network with the community by means of WhatsApp and secondly we provide an immediate response by the partnering security companies, volunteer patrollers and SAPS,” he said.

At present Ramsgate is divided into nine sectors with about 400 people in the groups. At any time of day or night, 20 volunteers will be patrolling the area in 10 private cars.

“This small group of dedicated individuals all have regular jobs yet still make time to be out checking the streets when most  people are asleep. And, in most cases they do this at their own expense. Security cameras have also been placed in hot spots resulting in a noticeable decrease in foot traffic,” said Mr Kruger.

He pointed out that the positive impact on the community could only be speculated as stats didn’t show what could have been or what might have happened had the crime watch team not been present. But what could not be denied was that the community as a whole has a chance to stand together and combat crime.

Complacency was the greatest asset of local criminals. The goal of crime watch was to work towards the prevention of crime and it needed support in all forms to do so. “If many do a little, the burden does not become too large for a few,” he said.

Mr Kruger appealed for further support from the Ramsgate community and urges all residents to join up and contribute to the CPF. In addition, to ensure that the CPF could continue the excellent work it was doing the Ramsgate Ratepayers Association was requesting all residents to sign a Special Rates Area application form. For details on how to get involved contact him at at 081 527 7238.