19 December 2020
Tonight we were 5 patrollers, 2 patrollers on bicycle and 3 in a car. The car also served as support vehicle for our bicycle patrollers. We had trouble obtaining OB due to sanitizing that was going on at the police station. We ran into a couple people after curfew. But they were all on their way to home or taking a friend to home. Seems the people do not like to listen to curfew or like to where a mask.
We also made a turn in Peerless Park East, where we were stopped by group of people who setup camp next to railway line in the recently demolished hub.
Upon entering Belmont Park by KFC we ran into 3 guys, we thought they were drunk carrying their drunk friend. The all were drunk, but he one they were carrying were stabbed in the chest. We contacted emergency services and they declared the gentleman condition orange.
The res to the patrol went without incident.
13 December 2020
We decided to take our bicycles out on patrol. Such a nice day to cycle and patrol. Maybe we should make it a regular thing and include the community to cycle with us.
Patrol started out smoothly. Had a bit of trouble getting OB, but managed. As we started our patrol and approached 11th avenue, we noticed a couple of guys standing under the trees on the field. Looked suspicious, but it ended up being a couple guys skarreling for trash. Told them to rather leave the area. The rest of the patrol was pretty quiet, except for a parked vehicle. We managed to engaged with a couple of community members as well.
Our patrol ended, to our surprise after 20:00
12 December 2020
Tonight’s patrol was basically a solo flight for some our new members with the support from me. They did pretty ok and was even able to use the new APP (Kaizala) and phone (Samsung A2 Core) that was provided by the Department of Community Safety (DOCS).
“Going forward, the Premier’s Safety Plan further requires that our approaches to safety should be led by data and technology. To that end, my department is rolling out the use of Microsoft Kaizala, a secure messaging and work management software application which allows collaboration with others in NHW structures, to ensure better information sharing and gathering,” Western Cape Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz’ words.
We ran into suspicious person on the Station, but he moved over to PPE. They were alerted of his presence. Our neighbourhood was pretty quiet and we patrolled our neighbouring NHW as well. In PPE we came upon a person under the influence and seemed to have collapsed and hurt himself. We were assisted by neighbouring NHW to resolve the situation. My wife and I also joined the last hour or so of the patrol to give further guidance to our new patrol members.
All is all the patrol was a success with a couple of hiccups which we will sort out and work out. Teamwork on any patrol is crucial and every patrol member should know his role in the team and how to be a backup for the rest of the team.
The rest of the night was pretty quiet and we booked off duty at the Kraaifontein SAPS.
6 December 2020
It has been a while since I have been on bike patrol. Today we were fortunate to have 5 patrollers on bicycle. Patrol started without incident.
Some of the residents were concerned about a shack that was erected behind the Dr’s surgery at the station just behind the orphanage. Upon investigation we found that Law Enforcement are aware of them.
We found a person sitting on the corner of 12th Avenue and Dennestreet typing on his phone and informed him it is not safe to sit there and to rather go home. We encountered a parked vehicle, male and female occupants, in plantation road. The drive claimed to be staying around the corner. Upon asking him about his number plate that does not suggests that. He started the car and drove off.
We found a car parked on two jacks half in the middle of the street in 8th avenue next to the tennis court. As we were busy the owner showed up with a mechanic. The car kept breaking down on the owner. It was not the 1st time the car broke down. It happened several times before on different occasions in Belmont Park. Residents felt at east when they heard the full story.
Only a few were on the Safety group. Visit our contact page to be added on the safety group. I ended up adding several people to our safety group
As we left 8th Avenue we found a couple of youngsters, ages 8-11 throwing stones at each other on the field and in plantation road. We found that they stayed at Covid-19 camp and the stones were made out of sand. We asked them to leave cos their sand stones landing on a car’s windscreen can cause an accident. We talked to several other people in Kleinbegin and was able to add more people to our safety group.
We came upon and accident scene at shell garage. Seems someone tried escaping the police, but ended up in a collision with a taxi. Our patrol ended just before 22:00
28 November 2020
We were on patrol again, following Covid19 protocols.
While patrolling Peerless park East we found a male individual who got robbed. We assisted as best we can. Advice would be not to walk around all alone at 01:40 in the morning.
21 November 2020
Out on patrol with two Vehicles. Only one vehicle did tracking
20 November 2020
Two members started on Bike patrol.
We switched over to vehicle due to rain
13 November 2020
We went on patrol tonight. We started earlier to give a report on the conditions of the roads, i.e. potholes, fields that are not cut etc. when it became dark we also took note of all the broken streetlights in Belmontpark.
We also went for a quick patrol in two of our neighbouring NHW’s namely PPW and PPE. In PPE we came across a parked car. We informed he NHW’s coordinator as well. Seems people like their romantic interludes and they totally forget about the safety aspect.
6 November 2020
Went on patrol again
1 November 2020
Some had some steam left and went on another patrol
31 October 2020 Continuous Patrol
It has been a while since I was on patrol. I joined the though the night patrol. although I am still not 100% healed. I managed to patrol for about 30 min. Take an hour’s rest and continue again. I also had the opportunity to explore and share patrols with our Neighbouring NHW’s. Was able to patrol in Peerless Park East and Peerless park West. The cracked rib started talking back to me though. For more details and pics check out our Recent Events page. It will be updated shortly. Awaiting permissions to post pics
27 October 2020
Two members out on bicycles for patrol.
23 October 2020
Out on Patrol
21 October 2020
We had available patrollers for a mid week patrol.
16 October 2020
We visited our nieghbouring Neighbourhood Watches as well.
11 October 2020
Took Bicycles out for patrol.
9 October 2020
Two vehicles doing its rounds.
2 October 2020
Were on Patrol and visited Peerless Park West as well.
25 September 2020
Two of our members took the bicycles out for a patrol
23 September 2020
Two of our members took the bicycles out for a visibility patrol
20 September 2020
Our newest member was out for the 1st time without any other vehicle with 4 of our members patrolling.
19 September 2020
Two of our members took their bicycles out for a patrol. We have a member of the community congratulating them for patrolling and said if he has known they would be out on patrol, he would have kept some cold drinks handy. In order to be part of the neighbourhood watch, you do not have to necessary have to patrol. Invite us over for a quick coffee or a cold drink. We will always enjoy it and a nice friendly chat 🙂
18 September 2020
Were fortunate to patrol with more than one vehicle
6 September 2020
Two members out on Bike patrol
4 September 2020
We were on patrol again.
29 August 2020
Out on patrol again tonight.
22 August 2020 Memorial Patrol
Memorial patrol.
All the Neighbourhoodwatches in Sector 3 got together for a memorial patrol.
22 August 2020
As I was picking up my members, I was involved in a little accident. The rear end of my car met up with his front end of his car. He also politely stepped out of his car with his red plastic cup of liquor to inspect the damage and ask what are we going to do about the damage. Luckily my towbar provided protection. After he demanded the police, his girlfriend and friend convinced him to let it go. The alcohol band was just lifted and people start being reckless.
We found several people on the road all enjoying their liquor. Stepping out of their vehicles with their glass of liquor in hand. We did point that out to them as well. Also rowdy young people under the influence walking their friends home in the middle of the night. Seems they were all celebrating the Lockdown 2. We did not encounter any criminal behaviour except for a white suspicious car, but he moved out of our neighbourhood as soon as they saw us.
21 August 2020
Were out patrolling again and it seems we really have a problem with the GPS of vehicle number one.
14 August 2020
Were able to patrol with two vehicles tonight. Unfortunately the one vehicles GPS gave us problems. Also patrolled the border of some of the neighbouring NHW’s area in sector 3
8 August 2020
Tonight we were fortunate to have 3 vehicles and 6 members on patrol. We came accross an Accident in Voortrekker road.
7 August 2020
We went out on patrol again. Amidst all the action that was going on in Maroela, I liked the idea that there was always at least two police vehicles stationed at the circle to keep an eye on things. What I meant by keeping an eye on things; that is to make sure that things do not escalate to the point where the situation becomes volatile. All we can do is to let the Law run its course. We by going to be spectators, just make their job more difficult 🙁 They now have to make sure that we are save and also making sure that they do their job, which is already a handful. We can only concentrate on keeping our neighbourhood safe. The police will assist us in that as far as humanly possible.
Our patrol through the night went on without any resistance from the guys we stopped. The seem to think they need not worry about Covid. There are other problems looming. We ran into our neighbouring Nhw in our area. Our area was again pretty quiet.
1 August 2020
Feeling much better so I ventured out with one of my fellow patrolers. Once again the night was quiet except near plantation where the hammering of people building shacks echoes through the night. Chased a couple of people of the road and as them to obey the lock down rules. Once again it was pretty quiet. We ran into our neighbouring NHW in our area. But no incidents the rest of the night. It was pretty quiet.
Saturday 31 July 2020
Still healing from my injury. Other members were out on patrol tonight. We went out with two vehicles tonights. There is a worry about the land invasions on Maroela. Everyone seems to be on edge and people are not happy of what is going on. Despite all this the patrols went on as normal. Had an informal chat with a group of citizens that were concerned about what is happening on Maroela.
Ran into a couple of stragglers and skarrelaars. Some were send out of our neighbourhood. Patrols during the lock down is forcing us to be very careful searching people. We never know where they have been and what they were doing.
Friday 24 July 2020
The guys was out patrolling. I was unfortunately not able to join due to an injury. Once again it seems like the people do not care about lock down curfew. They move about like there is no threat around them. The streets were pretty quiet. The usual suspects were out and about.
Sunday 19 July 2020
Well, today was a pretty nice day to patrol with our bicycles. We also decided to make it during the day, so that the Belmontpark residents can see that we are active again.
Our GPS is messing around with us. It seems that Telkom mobile is the weakest of the networks. In fact in order of best to worst performance on our bicycles was: MTN, VodaCom and then Telkom.
After we did our Temperature check, and health check, Sanitized and login on the Net to say we are going on patrol we took to the streets.
We encountered a new make shift home at the station which was not conducive to the area and reported it.
We found to two cars who was later joined by another one. The Occupants were enjoying extremely load music and was drinking in public. After we nicely explained to them what was wrong with that picture, which was. Drinking illegal alcohol in public, no social distancing, not have masks and playing load music, they politely apologised and moved away.
The residents was happy to see us patrolling and thanked us for our service 🙂
We were happy to Obliged.
It would not hurt if they could donate something towards Airtime and petrol by depositing money in our Neighbourhoodwatch account 🙂
Account Holder : Belmont-park NHW Bank : ABSA Branch code : 632005 Account no : 92 0169 2948
On Saturday 14 March 2020
Finally we can patrol again. It was a long hard dry season of no patrols and lock down. We finally managed to get our permits to patrol. But it came with a whole bunch of rules which is for our own health benefit.
We were patrolling with two vehicles. Me and Kosie and one of our other members in his vehicle. The night was fairly quiet. Talked to a couple people whom we found walking about with no social distancing and masks. Other then that the evening was pretty quiet. Just we lost GPS on the one one vehicle, otherwise it was nice to be out in the neighbourhood again.
Friday 6 March 2020
Saturday 15 February 2020
It was a pretty nice night to patrol on our bicycles. We had a ball of a time patrolling. We did not ran into any serious problems. We also met up with the Neigbourhood watches of the other sectors in our area. When we were done patrolling and we still had some time. We went patrolling with the car. Especially the places that is hard to reach with the bicycles.
Friday 31 January 2020
Tonight we were patrolling with two vehicles. We were hoping to hook up with the other Neighbourhood watches in sector3, but it didn’t seem to work our way. We were in the middle of load shedding and decided to patrol until the lights went back on. Unfortunately vehicle no2 had and early morning so I continued until the lights came back on again.
We ran into a group of youngsters, probably between ages 14 – 16, on their way home, but with liquor that was open in their possession. Please parents instruct your children not to display such acts. Not only is it illegal to drink in public, but now they are also under the influence and it is very difficult to communicate with them.
We eventually to our surprise ran into the other NHW’s patrolling in our area. We experienced communication equipment problems. We were stopped by an individual that claimed that the Neighbourhood watch took his phone from a friend after he was searched. He wanted to know what he should do. I told him to go to the police and report it. His friend should give a description of the vehicle and where it happened. All our vehicles is leaving a GPS trail and we can pinpoint with two meter accuracy where we have been. Well after he was aware if this and I showed him, he admitted that his friend might be lying.
Saturday 18 January 2020
Saturday 11 January 2020
Our first patrol for 2020. I am glad to be patrolling again. Been out of it because of my operation, but I am getting better slowly but surely. Our patrol started off nicely. Had an incident where a member of the community actually told us to leave the area and go patrol in our own area? I confronted the gentleman who was adamant that we need to leave he will take care of patrolling. We apparently intimidate and harass people. Upon asking his name, and where he stayed he refused unless I identified myself, which I did. He then changed his attitude. It seemed that Belmont park nhw are being confused with other Nhw’s patrolling our area. Later the evening we actually ran into two other NHW’s patrolling our area! Also remember a Neighbourhood watch patroller must produce Identification. The car must be marked clearly that it is a patrol vehicle etc.
The rest of the night was pretty quiet. We were able to assist a gentleman and his girlfriend who experienced car trouble. I gave them our contact details. They were pretty happy for our assistance and that we went the extra mile in assisting them.
The other problem that we have noticed is that we in Belmont park are actually attracting “Skarrelaars”. The quickest way to get rid of stuff that we do not want is to put it outside on the pavement. We actually confirmed this with one of the regular skarrelaar. He said he comes here because residents are putting things on the pavement and sometime they throw stuff on the field. Old clothes he washes and utensils that he found he sells it.
So, people, think about it the next time you put something outside your yard.