Crime concerns
We have no doubt that all of us were equally shocked and appalled by the recent senseless murders of two members of our community and that all will join us in conveying our deepest sympathies to the two families.

Understandably, people’s reactions have varied from outrage and anger, to castigating the Police or giving up and leaving the country. However, the CRA remains convinced that SAPS do their best and have the community interests at heart. We will continue to support Parkview SAPS and urge our residents to become more involved in community security. To quote Francois Marais who addressed the recently-held ‘your safety’ meeting,“People tend not to think that their contribution will make a difference, but we've passed the point where we can hold government and the police accountable for crime. Unless communities pull together, there's little chance individual efforts against crime will succeed."

SAPS report back
CRA exec members Richard King and Philip Bond met recently with Sup Moodley at SAPS Parkview. He advised that he has redeployed into the field a number of resources, increasing both vehicle/patrol presence and manpower and involving units such as the Robbery Reaction Unit in crime prevention. He was confident that this added presence would see a reduction in crime. This will continue through until January 2008.

Sup Moodley confirmed that investigations are still in progress in respect of the murders. On a positive note, Sup Moodley said that they had just made a significant break-though with two members of a gang apprehended who, the Police believe, may be linked to wider crime in the area. When detectives were following up on an attempted hi-jacking in Buckingham Ave they found a cell phone belonging to one of the perpetrators. The owner was tracked down in Alex where numerous items from previous break-ins were found and the arrests made. We’ll let you know as we get more reports.

If you have any queries, contact Richard at Richard.king@za.bp.com or Philip at philip.b@bondstationers.co.za.

Community Security Scheme
More residents have come forward to join the Community Security Scheme. Thank you for your support – but we still have a way to go before we hit our next target of 150 to guarantee another patrol vehicle. We know that some people think, for instance, that it’s wrong to have pay more for security when our taxes should be beefing up SAPS – but if we do nothing, is that going to improve matters? 

As concerned residents, and with the festive season looming where crime always seems to increase, the CRA urges you to subscribe to the Scheme. For information contact Eric Glover at Ericglover@wns.co.za or Mike Wilmot at MichaelW@boe.co.za. Don’t forget – the ADT addendum form or the CRA debit order form are available on the web site – and the CRA controls the debit run each month, not the bank.

Practical steps in avoiding crime – more pro-active meetings planned
A very well attended “your safety” meeting held at the beginning of the month was addressed by Francois Marais who offered many practical tips to increase your home safety (we have a summary of his burglary empowerment strategies on the CRA website – in fact, we’ve done a major revamp of the security section for you). Francois was profiled in FM 12/10/07 under the heading “REAL PEOPLE DOING UNREAL THINGS” – see: http://secure.financialmail.co.za/07/1012/people/realpeople.htm.

Francois has agreed to address another meeting about counter-measures associated with dealing with hi-jacking – this is planned before the end of the year.

Thank you to all those residents who have volunteered to help in the Security portfolio. Several residents have also said that they subscribe to E*BLOCKWATCH. To register go to: www.eblockwatch.co.za. Once registered, for R10 pm you’ll be sent an SMS re incidents in your area. Don’t forget that there is now an on-line crime incident form on the CRA website, accessed from the home page. 

In the meantime, remember that in case of an emergency, always phone 10111. A state-of-the-art SAPS call centre was recently opened and is staffed, we’re told, by the ranks of Captain and above, ensuring far better service.

CRA executive news
We are still operating on a revolving chairperson basis. Wendy McAllister (wendym@creativecoms.co.za) is acting for October, Bianca de Roland Phillips in November (brohleder@global.co.za) and Roly Meyer in December (rolymeyer@mweb.co.za).

Yet again we appeal to our community to come forward for the positions of Chairman, Treasurer and Community Affairs. Lee Whitfield will temporarily help out with treasury matters but holding more than one portfolio means that other matters may start to slide. If the CRA didn’t exist, who would speak for our community?  

Please think about what you can do.  

CRA survey 2007
A short survey was included in the September Crier. It’s now also on the website - www.cra.org.za/survey_Aug07.htm. Your feedback will greatly assist us so it would be much appreciated if you spend a few minutes completing it and submitting it.

Other matters

Precinct plan: this has been approved by the City Council. It means that developments in conflict with the Plan will not be permitted and can now be controlled in line with the wishes of the community. The Plan can be amended in the future, if necessary. If there is any aspect that you think should be changed (it does allow for higher densities along the river frontage, for instance) contact Lee Whifield (fieldsta@iafrica.com).

Membership for 2008: As previously indicated, subs for 2008 will remain the same. Harry Rosen’s Membership portfolio (hrosen@tasonline.co.za) will be sending out subscription forms next month but any subs paid for the rest of this year will automatically be credited to 2008 membership. If we can show high membership numbers, our voice becomes that much more powerful.

Guy Fawkes (5^th November) activities are confined to the hours of 19h00 and 22h00. The admission of guilt for discharging fireworks with an animal or pet on the property is R1 000.00, and for allowing a minor to light or discharge fireworks is R1 500.00. Anyone not complying with the by-law concerning noise control can be fined R500.00 and businesses R1 000.00. Enjoy yourselves, but please be careful!