‘Our patrols are making a big difference’
Residents in a part of Carletonville have started to fight against crime themselves.
An action by residents of Carletonville Extension 8 has started to curb crime in this area.
According to Mr Ben James, who stays in Umfolozi Street in Carletonville, he became very concerned about the increase in crime, especially the theft of electrical cables, in this area last year. Umfolozi Street is situated at the edge of the town and only the veld separates it from the R501 road.
James decided to start patrolling the streets in this area by car by himself after speaking to his ward councillor and immediately started to see fewer theft than before. He attributes this to the criminals seeing that someone was trying to make their lives more difficult.
“These criminals are not stupid and you have to think like one if you want to catch them. It unnerves them if you catch them off-guard, which is what you have to do,” says James, who acknowledges that he has known some criminals in the past before he decided to change his life around.
After some suspected cable thieves stoned his vehicle while he was on patrol in the area of Umzimkhulu Street one night over the past festive season, James decided to get help from other community members. This put him touch with Mr Hannes Kruger, who now heads the regular community patrols in the area.
Kruger, James and other residents patrol along certain routes in the Carletonville Extension 8 area in their cars and are constantly trying to make things more difficult for criminals, such as getting the grass cut in areas where there are cables or where the criminals usually hide or use as routes to get to other places.
According to Kruger they have, for instance, received huge help from Laerskool Jongspan, which as cut the grass and trees where criminals have been known to hide next to the school. They hope to grow the action in ways such as maybe even getting quad bikes for residents to drive through the veld with.
“People who want to get involved do not need to patrol. They can help a lot by, for instance, just helping us who are prepared to patrol with fuel,” says Kruger.
He adds that their action is now in contact with a similar community action more to the Eastern part of Carletonville.
Anyone who wants to get involved in some way, can contact Kruger at 083 283 1502.
