Leaders disagree over crime stats
Oberlechner argued that there is a general decrease in crime.
There seems to be a difference between Senior State Advocate Deon van Wyk and lawyer Andreas Oberlechner of Roodekrans Neighbourhood Watch’s (RNW) as to the crime in the area.
In response to a recent media statement by Van Wyk, Oberlechner had the following to say: “The RNW has been in existence for over 11 years, during which time it has grown from strength to strength. We have a membership in excess of 1 800 households and through their monthly contributions, we have established a sound infrastructure that includes a radio network of over 700 radio users and most importantly our OPS Room that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” wrote Oberlechner.
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“The Committee consists of 18 dedicated individuals who pride themselves on providing a fully functional service to our community and a communications network that is accurate and up to date.
“Experience has taught us that crime is not static and does not recognise municipal boundaries or differentiate from suburb to suburb.
“As such it is and always has been vital for the various Community Policing Forums (CPFs) and Neighbourhood Watches to work closely together with the security companies and of course the police,” said Oberlechner.
He went on to state, “The veracity of the information that is broadcast on WhatsApp groups, our airwaves and other social and public media is of utmost importance and we at the RNW try to take the utmost care to ensure that this information is accurate, relevant and generally of importance to our members and the public at large.
“It is for this reason that we take exception to the statistics that were published in the Roodepoort Record in its Friday, 20 July edition”.
“In it, the allegation is, inter alia, made that there has been a steady increase of between 54 to 57 per cent in serious crimes in the Helderkruin, Wilro Park and Roodekrans areas. This is the area designated as Sector 1 by the police. These statistics are blatantly wrong and cannot be left unchallenged.
“Our members will know that the RNW has gone to great lengths to provide daily crime statistics to our members by way of WhatsApp crime reports, which are then combined with crime reported to the police directly and not reported to our OPS Room,” he argued.
“The comparative statistics of serious crime in our area for 2016–2017 reveals that far from there being a 57 per cent increase in serious crimes there has in fact been a 23 per cent decrease in serious crimes in Sector 1. There has in fact only been one type of crime that has shown an increase in numbers, namely hijackings, which increased from eight in 2016 to 15 in 2017. Housebreakings however, have shown a remarkable decrease from 441 in 2016 to 300 in 2017.
“This remarkable reduction in crime is attributable to the outstanding efforts of our dedicated police officers, private security officers, the patrollers and reaction units within the neighbourhood watches and CPFs, as well as the active participation of each and every member of the RNW and any other neighbourhood watch and CPF in our area and the adjoining areas,” said Oberlechner.
“The publication of these highly inaccurate figures is an affront to the people who willingly put their lives on the line to protect our community and belittles the efforts and inputs of all parties concerned.
“Furthermore, before anybody denigrates the efforts of the Roodepoort Police, by June 2018, the Roodepoort Police Station was placed second in Gauteng in the most improved police station category, second only to Vaal Marina, whose territorial footprint is a fraction of of the size of that controlled by Roodepoort.
For the first time, Roodepoort has been recognised with a five-star rating, which is due solely to the efforts of dedicated people who fight crime with limited resources, for which they deserve our recognition and gratitude,” he said
“Every effort should therefore be made to avoid the publication of hyperbolic statistics that have nothing to do with reality but are designed solely to unnecessarily spread alarm. That is not to say that we should rest on our laurels, but instead it should encourage us to redouble our efforts to work together in fighting crime and ensuring that our crime statistics continue their downward trend for the future.We therefore urge everybody to become involved in their communities and to contribute in whichever way they can to keep it safe,” concluded Oberlechner.
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