The Scottburgh Saps Community Policing Forum revealed the area in general was still stable and reasonably peaceful.
Hotspot areas include Amandawe, Scottburgh, Pennington and Park Rynie. Crimes that had increased within the past month were residential and business burglaries, robberies, fraud, unlawful possessions of firearms and drunken driving.
The number of people found in the unlawful possession of drugs this month has decreased and the main drugs that were seized were dagga, cocaine, crystal meth and Mandrax.
Following the protest action from Amandawe and KwaCele, everything seems to have quietened down and the community is peaceful, said Visible Policing commander, Lieutenant Colonel Linda Chiliza. These areas also fall under the crime hotspots and seem to be less active now than they were previously.
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This is because several arrests have been made by Saps in the area and they believe that, with these criminals behind bars, crime is decreasing.
Crime in Park Rynie seems to have decreased and crime in Pennington comprises mainly house-breaking at estates and big businesses.
Saps would like to inform the public that, in order to rid the town of criminals, they will do more visible policing with their vehicles’ blue lights on during the day and night. People shouldn’t be alarmed if they see the lights.
Umdoni Protection Services provided a report-back for the month, stating that they conducted an operation in July to help reduce the number of drunken driving incidents. Two arrests were made in the Umzinto area through this operation. They also reported an incident in Hazelwood, Umzinto, where boys were fined for riding their four-wheelers on a road. For the sake of their safety, this had to be stopped.
UPS also reported a dog bite in Gandhinagar. The victim is believed to have been bitten when he entered the yard of a resident at his own risk while looking for work.
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The justice department was also represented at this month’s CPF and their main point was that the public should understand that every court case is unique and all suspects have circumstances which influence final judgement for sentencing.
A new matter that was brought to the CPF members’ attention by Councillor Shara Singh, was that reports had come in about people disregarding the stop sign at the corner of Marine Terrace and Cordiner Street. Not only were people ignoring the sign, there had also been reports of vehicles speeding on that road when coming from the beach. This has also resulted in a number of accidents.
Just over a month ago, a local motor cyclist collided with a light motor vehicle near the stop sign. This is believed to have happened when the vehicle was coming from the beach and the motor cycle was going towards the beach on Marine Terrace. Neither party had stopped. There have also been reports of a pedestrian being hit by a vehicle there several months ago due to a vehicle not stopping at the stop sign.
Protection Services said they were aware that the beach area was becoming a concern and had been monitoring the situation. It was also noted that several people had recently been charged with disobeying the stop sign. It was suggested that speed humps be constructed along that road.
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Regarding the never-ending pothole saga, Warrant Officer Deena Govender said the police station received many complaints about these potholes as drivers often damaged their vehicles and didn’t know with whom they should raise the matter.
Councillors confirmed that these complaints could be directed to the municipality and specific forms were now being kept in the charge office for people who wished to put in claims against the municipality.
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