Neighbourhood watches in Lotus River and Grassy Park have been kitted out with R100 000 worth of equipment.
The equipment, which includes spotlights, batons, first aid kits, radios, car patrol lights, dash cams and body cams as well as bicycles, was distributed to neighbourhood watches in Ward 65 on Thursday 6 October.
Donovan Nelson, councillor for Ward 65, says the equipment is an investment in the neighbourhood watches to assist in keeping the community safer.
“I have this week handed over equipment to the value of R100 000 to the neighbourhood watches in Ward 65. This is my ongoing commitment to see a safer community.”
The equipment was handed over to 10 neighbourhood watches from Lotus River to Grassy Park, says Nelson.
“The main thing is that neighbourhood watches don’t receive monetary income, they are volunteers so we are always looking at ways to raise funds.
“The R100 000 was allocated from City funds meant to benefit the community at large in Ward 65.
“Some of the equipment invested in include body cams and dash cams which are used to record activity such as vehicles that speed or are speeding away. It allows us to trace them.”
He adds that it is encouraging to see the commitment from neighbourhood watches in the area.
“My goal is for the community to be safer and although we do have police, law enforcement and the community police forum, we also have our neighbourhood watches who work together.
“The neighbourhood watches are an important structure of our society.”
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Nelson adds that the equipment already proved its worth on the first weekend’s evening patrols following the handover.
“We were out this whole weekend and used the equipment, which included bicycles as well as a first aid kit, and the neighbourhood watch is out in full force. The bicycles also come in handy, especially with high fuel costs.”
Stanford Grass, a member of Steven Road neighbourhood watch in Grassy Park, says he joined a year ago because of issues he experienced in his street.
“We had so many problems in front of our house. I have videos of how they damaged our lights, guys would hit it with a 12-pound hammer, break the lights and take all the cabling out.
“We just decided as neighbours that we need to start a neighbourhood watch and we came to realise if we did not do it, no one would.”
He adds that police are not always available to assist so they decided to take control of their community.
“Since I joined the neighbourhood watch, our infrastructure has not been damaged and we patrol 90% of the time and also throughout loadshedding.”
Grass says it is important to build a relationship with the community.
“You need to be part of the community and not be aggressive. We patrol all the businesses and the community is more well-knitted together.
“We need a community watch and need to know what is going on in our area.”He says the new equipment was put to the test during a shooting incident on Friday 7 October.
“On Friday night, they shot a guy. The guy ran into Klip Road and the equipment came in very handy.
“I used the medical kit and we had a spotlight and everything. Everything we had, we used on Friday night so the equipment was very helpful.”
