THE Bulwer Community Safety Forum discussed the need for a disaster management plan in light of the xenophobia attacks in the area, at its meeting on Tuesday night.
According to chairperson, Heather Rorick, a place of safety needs to be found in the community where people can go, in case of emergencies.
“Where do people go? A lot of other areas are now putting together disaster management plans and we should also come up with somewhere local where people can go to for shelter, such as a church hall. Foreigners being attacked at the moment are running, hiding, and scared. There were a lot of casualities on Monday night – where have these people gone? We need to gear up as a community and start looking after each other and working together,” she said.
Rorick said people should get together in their roads and come up with a plan and chain of command in case of emergencies.
“The police are understaffed, and community participation is necessary, residents need to get involved,” she said.
Rorick also addressed the issue of the smash and grab on 30 March. She said it seemed people were becoming so used to crime that they didn’t seem to care.
“We did a clean-up at the spot where the women were robbed, on Friday night, and identified the man involved, who was in the old garages alongside the road, however as the police were not with us, we couldn’t do anything. We also found bushes of dagga growing outside a block of flats and people were openly selling drugs and drinking in the street. The police only came two hours later, and by that time the people had pulled the bushes out. The response time of the police will be addressed again with the station as it is unacceptable,” she said.
Gareth Passmore from Blue Security spoke to residents about crime stats in the area.
He noted business robberies occurred mostly around midday, and house break-ins were usually in the early mornings.
“We have brought in a crime prevention unit to work during shift changes, as this could be the problem. I do suggest, although it’s pricey, that residents install beams and have a dog. It takes two to three minutes for them to get in and out, beams are an added buffer to help protect homes,” he said.
With load-shedding on the rise, Passmore urged residents to have their gate batteries checked as load-shedding affected these.
“If your gate battery is not lasting four to six hours, it will need to be replaced. Opportunistic crime also increases during power outages as criminals are scouting properties and fence hopping,” he said.
He urged residents to report all cases, even petty crime.
