From Sunday October 1 to 6am on Tuesday October 31, overall crime recorded by Diep River police station was down 45%.
This is according to Warrant Officer Chris Roman who chaired a joint station meeting on Tuesday.
Warrant Officer Roman said Diep River was one of a few police stations which have initiated monthly meetings with others involved in the fight against crime. The meetings include neighbourhood watches, traffic, Law Enforcement, railway police, security providers, shopping centres, the community police forum (CPF), City of Cape Town and ward councillors.
Warrant Officer Roman says contact crime, which includes common assault, altercations at nightclubs and domestic violence, is down 11.5% while the number of aggravated robberies remains high.
Common robbery has increased, particularly close to transport access points, in the early morning and late afternoon, mostly in Plumstead and Diep River with occasional crimes in Southfield and Heathfield.
Warrant Officer Roman said the neighbourhood watches and police have ongoing patrols of these hot spots.
Over the past few months property theft from motor vehicles has reduced by half.
He says most of these crimes take place where cars are parked in quiet roads as opposed to where there is security presence.
There was one business break-in in Plumstead and two men were arrested. One of the men is known to James Hayman of Chubb Security and Lance Peacock of Zone Security. The challenge is finding proof linking the alleged thief to the crime.
Crow bar type crimes for the station were zero, however, these have increased in Fairways and Grassy Park, according to security providers.
Residents are asked to be vigilant of con artists, credit card scammers, and when withdrawing cash from ATMs as these tend to increase at this time of year.
Pupils should be taught to hide cellphones when walking streets.
Colin Reeves of Combat Force was invited to a meeting held at Simon’s Town police where he learnt about the Pink Bib Project.
Homeless people and drug addicts are provided with help and training to become volunteers in a social improvement programme, which includes car guards.
The aim of the project is to get them off drugs and alcohol addiction and return them to the community. Mr Reeves says they wear pink bibs because these cannot be bought at regular shops. “We have a major problem with street people in this area.
This project is designed to uplift them and that’s why social services is involved,” says Mr Reeves.
The project is now being rolled out in Fish Hoek.
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