ROOIELS SECURITY ASSOCIATION NPC
P O BOX 44937
CLAREMONT 
7735
Ph 028 273 8089; 028 273 8095
21 November 2016

Dear Rooiels Homeowners

A small and dedicated group of RESA volunteers have established a Block Watch WhatsApp platform and night time patrolling roster. We want to inform all homeowners about these community based initiatives and more importantly encourage participation by homeowners.
 
BLOCK WATCH WHATSAPP PLATFORM 
The rationale behind the Rooiels BW Whatsapp group is the following.

1. That all residents become the eyes on the ground for ASK Security and the Rooiels Patrol group.
2. To increase the situational awareness of all residents by them joining the BW WhatsApp group enabling them to report any suspicious vehicles and/or persons in the area. This increases awareness of what is happening in the village.
3. By doing this all on the Blockwatch group there is greater awareness of something happening and increased surveillance of the suspicious person or vehicle and the immediate reporting of their movements as they pass through the village.
4. When the suspicious person or vehicle acts in a manner that causes concern a patroller, if on duty, will then report the incident to ASK if it has not already been done by one of the BW spotters.
5. The primary function of the Block Watch is the reporting of suspicious persons and vehicles
6. The secondary function of the Block Watch is reporting of any problems noticed on a resident’s property so that the owner can be contacted or the alarm raised for an emergency response. These will include fire, wind damaged roofs or water leaks.

 REPORTING PROCEDURE

1. Suspicious persons  - Brief description of person what they are wearing from top down to shoes. Colour of clothes worn is of vital importance.
2. Vehicles - colour/make /registration in that order of importance. Number of occupants. This is important to know if they are dropping individuals off.
3. The Rooiels Patrollers are part of the BW group and also receive the BW WhatsApp  information. They may not be in Rooiels itself so it is always best to ask on the BW whether someone reported this to ASK.
4. Keep reports brief and responses short. It is a communication medium for a security purposes and overloading it with chatter will put off users.

STRATEGY BEHIND ROOIELS PATROLING

• High visibility and high impact is the primary strategy.
• It is not the role of the patrollers to intervene or apprehend suspects as this could endanger their lives. Their role is to raise the alert about possible suspect activity.
• The purpose of the patrollers lights and reflective decals is for residents to see that it is a RESA patroller.
• The objective of the patrolling is to make any observer aware that patrolling is taking place in an organised manner. It is random patrolling so as not to be predictable.
• The lights on vehicles are a give-away on exactly where the patroller is in the village. This is for phase one of the high visibility patrols going into the festive season. It is planned to have two cars patrolling at the same time, one for a short period and one for longer to confuse any observer trying to determine a patrolling pattern.
• The number of patrollers currently doing high intensity patrols is not sustainable. We need more volunteers even if it is only for 30 minutes. It all helps in our objective making Rooiels safer. Please volunteer when you can.
• We are aware that the flashing lights are intrusive in a conservation area but please be tolerant of them as it is in the interests and safety of all that it is being done.

The key contact people for the above are as follows:
BLOCK WATCH     ADMINISTRATOR      SHELLY BLAKE            0847021241
OVERALL COORDINATOR             PETER KONING                    0824911463

There is also a more social Whatsapp group for general non-security related information sharing:
VILLAGE PEOPLE                         LINDA HILES                      0832260044

This is an important initiative and will be most successful with as much support in terms of time and effort as can be given by as many volunteers as possible. A crime free festive season is the objective so let’s make it happen.

Regards

Mark Butler – For RESA Ops Comm
 
MAKING ROOIELS A SAFER PLACE
 
REGISTRATION NUMBER 2014/109464/08
DIRECTORS: A D BAIGRIE, M R BUTLER

Yesterday (17 November) a report noting suspicious vehicles, a black golf and silver Toyota leaving Rooiels was the beginning of us fighting back and the RE Patrol group sprang into action.

Three vehicles all with darkly tinted windows were seen parked at the second parking place along R44 towards Gordons Bay – a blue Toyota CA 706957; silver Tazz CA 36687 and CA 602529. ASK had seen the silver Tazz loading bags in Pringle Bay earlier in the day.

DAFF (Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) were notified and they contacted Gordons Bay SAPS to watch out for them. The situation in Rooiels quietened down.

Meanwhile, there was another Block Watch notice reporting the vehicles at the “big house”, aka African House, African Bank House, Terminal 5 and the house on the point – erf 115. DAFF was there too but could not find anything.

Shortly after this there was a report that they had been spotted by DAFF and apprehended but they had nothing with them so could not be arrested.

At about 20:00, we were notified of cars in Ocean View Drive again and a white Golf was seen leaving Rooiels. ASK and DAFF were on the scene and felt sure that the cars were waiting for the divers. Rooiels patrollers also responded to the reports and drove around the village following up on sightings but things quietened down for a while with nothing being seen.

An hour later, Emile, the duty response officer from ASK, responded to a call at Grace (Mary Comrie’s house, erf 192) and came face to face with eight men who had been hiding there. They scattered into the bush when he shone his torch on them.

Patrollers were out in force to track them. SAPS was called and cars moved slowly around areas in Rooiels where they had been seen, people shone torches into the bushes (and set off a few alarms) and generally made things uncomfortable for the criminals who must have been hiding in the dense and scratchy fynbos.

Unfortunately they were not caught but their operation has no doubt suffered a setback.

The two community security Whatsapp groups, Rooiels Blockwatch and RE Patrol, were abuzz with information including sightings and movements of suspicious vehicles and people; which Rooielsers were providing backup; which enforcement agencies had been informed or responded, etc.  This was very useful to those of us who had responded, and really proved the worth of these initiatives.
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Three cheers for Rooiels.