ARRA continues to work closely and in partnership with Quatro in providing the successful area-based armed response service to members on a 24-7-365 basis. This area-based rapid-response service is the best cost?effective option available to residents in the area and is proving its worth in its 10 years of existence.

In 2020, there were 46 (-15% on 2019) reported incidents over the year (17 night (37%), 29 day (63%)), with little change on the previous year (which had 54 reported incidents). There were 4 arrests made, representing a 9% arrest rate, with special mention of patrol officer Collen Hlungwane for 2 arrests and to Jackson Mamabolo and Tefu Nkhumane for 1 arrest each. The patrol vehicle is proving effective and we thank Collen, Jackson and Tefu for their vigilance and proactivity in preventing crimes in our area, as well as Das Meerholz, Quatro Regional Manager for his on-going support. COVID-19 restrictions and curfews appear to have contributed to low levels of opportunist crimes in the area.

 

• Overall, since the process began in 2010, the ‘Top 10’ Streets with worst records are: (1) Beckett Str. [72 incidents]; (2) Government Ave. [69 incidents]; (3) Balmoral Ave. [52 incidents]; (4) East Ave. [48 incidents]; (5) Thomas Ave. [45 incidents]; (6) Pine Str. [35 incidents]; (7) Merton Ave. [34 incidents]; (8) Lisdogan Ave. [28 incidents]; (9) Dumbarton Ave. [22 incidents]; and (10) Eastwood Str. [19 incidents]. The Other Streets drop significantly in incidents reported thereafter.
• In 2020, the Streets with the worst reported crime incident record were: (1) Government Ave. with 10 incidents; (2) Beckett Str. With 9 incidents; (3) Thomas Ave. with 7 incidents; (4) East Ave. with 5 incidents; (5) Balmoral Ave. with 4 incidents; and all others with less than 3 incidents each.
• In 2021, so far there have been 9 reported incidents (i.e. 1 Attempted Armed Robbery; 2 Theft Motor Vehicles; 2 Intrusions/Theft Belongings; 1 Theft Gate Motor; 1 Theft Bins; 1 Theft Street Numbers; 1 Fraudulent Misrepresentation), with reported crime incidents being generally very low and no reported crime incidents in March.

B. Membership of the ARRA-Quatro CSI

Currently, there are 181 individual members of the scheme (remaining static on 2019) and 5 Guarding Contracts (3 within the CSI area and 2 outside the residential area) and this represents a 61% area penetration. New members are always welcome and at R440 per month (or R15 per day), this represents exceptional value-for-money for a quality-assured rapid-response service that secures the area and gives peace of mind to members of the scheme. There is no better alternative that provides such value-for-money and evidenced-based results!

C. Wider Initiatives and OPERRA

An on-going concern is the increase in communes and illegal businesses in the area, with increasing evidence of organised crime syndicates operating in the area, contributing to increased opportunist crime incidents, prostitution and drug-related crimes. ARRA and Quatro, through the Sector/Community Policing Forum,
endeavour to work with SAPS in addressing these issues, but it is through our own vigilance, and the concerted efforts of Quatro, that we really rely on for crime containment and prevention. In many cases, crime incidents were prevalent where alarms were not primed or installed, with the rapid-response of the Quatro patrol vehicle being a major deterrent to more serious incidents. While the trend of crime is manageable, it is also one which needs constant vigilance and support from the community, with the support of the police (SAPS and TMPD) and the Sector/Community Policing Forum (CPF).

Under OPERRA, ARRA also explores closer collaboration with contiguous RRAs in Rietondale, Colbyn, Clydesdale and Sunnyside East to determine interest for synergies and cost-saving initiatives in increasing scope and coverage of patrolling, information-exchanges and more effective collaboration with SAPS, TMPD,
CoT and the CPFs. Similarly, under OPERRA, the role of the CIDs is under constant scrutiny, as there have been previous attempts by some CIDs to encroach illegally into residential precincts in an attempt to spread business costs, with risks to established private residential security initiatives. This matter is being actively
monitored.

D. Community Policing Forum (CPF)

ARRA participates in the CPF (Sector 1)2 as relevant, where the following issues are of significance:
Normally, the forum mostly meets monthly, on the first Monday of each month, together with stakeholders and the SAPS;
Continued vigilance by residents, security patrollers and SAPS is required to maintain the status quo and hopefully increase
our security even more;
SAPS is inviting RRAs to assist them in identifying the extent of CCTV in their catchment areas, which can be used to gather
evidence of incidents locally SAPS will work with the private security companies and RRAs, through the CPFs. An exercise
will be co-ordinated through the CPFs in due course;
One sorely lacking contributor to the forum is the TMPD, who are continuously invited but never attend, and this needs to
be addressed urgently as TMPD is responsible for by-law enforcement as well as community policing support;