Town Watch reports good results over festive season

“There was a spate of break-ins at some of the estates, however many of these were resolved successfully and most valuable goods recovered,” Town Watch’s management said in a newsletter to their members. “Our biggest headache was a petty and opportunistic crime, a few cases of fraud, and motorists driving under the influence of alcohol.” They say that vehicle patrols and camera monitoring teams remained on duty daily throughout the festive season and were used to identify perpetrators.

“When we embarked on the camera monitoring project at the beginning of 2022, we were hoping to install 12 cameras. We are pleased to say that at the end of 2022, we have 31 cameras up and running. We have one more to install and we will then have achieved what we thought was impossible. This could not have been achieved without the generosity of the Hoedspruit community. We made a call for more camera monitors from the community and it was pleasing to observe that more members of the community put up their hands,” they said.

Also read: Cameras help to keep Hoedspruit safe

Twenty A3-size signs were also installed at various locations in Hoedspruit to inform residents and visitors that the town is monitored by CCTV surveillance. “When we designed the camera network, we made provisions for stage 2 load shedding. We are nearly constant on level 4 and with this in mind, we have had to adapt our equipment; this is an ongoing project,” Town Watch said. They said that they will continue recruiting volunteers to monitor cameras as well as people that can drive patrols at night.

“The humbling fact is that the Hoedspruit community drives vehicle patrols using their own vehicles, fuel, and time. The same can be said about the camera monitors that use their own IT equipment, internet connections, and data from their own homes as well as time to ensure we stay ahead of criminals.” Town Watch thanked PicknPay for the funds collected during the ‘Bowls by Candle Light’ towards the end of last year. They also thanked their partners: Farm Watch, SAPS, Canyon Risk Solutions, AM Tech, Herotel, the traffic departments, and the Hoedspruit community.