Beverley Hills forms neighbourhood watch

THE Beverley Hills residents in Westville have formed a community watch to assist police and fight crime in the area.

Chairman of the neighbourhood watch steering committee, Barry Livsey, said they got together as the community after his friend had a bad home invasion.

“We decided to start a neighbourhood watch to help each other and be protected, with a minimum of 400 houses participating,” Livsey said, and they approached the Westville CPF to assist them with ways they could bring Beverley Hills into an umbrella of neighbourhood watches.

“In liaison with the CPF, we have created four zones in the area and appointed zone leaders, who will be responsible for coordinating their patrollers. The aim of the watch is for everyone to be the eyes and ears of the community. The volunteers will patrol the area in a visible manner and patrollers on duty will be identified by green lights.”

Livsey requested that residents respect and assist the patrollers, who are volunteering their time to keep the area safe.

“I would like to express a huge thank you to Sgt Stephen Clark and Cst Laatz from Westville SAPS for their valuable insight and their assistance in training the patrollers.”

He also thanked Mike Myers and Paul Stone for introducing the Mobi Claw app, which provides emergency reaction to help the community.

“The app really works: in one of the incidents I witnessed, a woman’s hand got stuck in a plastic cleaning machine and after 45 minutes of waiting for help I used the Mobi Claw app. In about four minutes there was a response and I believe that quick response saved that woman’s hand,” he said.

Livsey added that they work closely with the police and the CPF. “The police in the area area are doing a very great job, but they cannot be everywhere all the time”.

Residents who wish to be part of or participate in BHNHW can e-mail Tom Watkeys – tomwatkeysmusic@gmail.com or Michael Brodie -brodie94@hotmail.com.