Sunninghill Crime statistics

Below are three graphs showing crime in Sunninghill from January to the end of June.  These stats are compared to the same period in 2008 and 2009.

 Theft of motor vehicles has decreased quite substantially but unfortunately the theft out of motor vehicle and smash and grabs have increased.  Most of the theft out of motor vehicles have occurred in Shopping Centres in Sunninghill while the smash and grabs have occurred on the corner of Maxwell Drive and Witkoppen Road.  Sunninghill Community as well as Eskom have cleared the grass and some bushes to make it easier for motorists to see any would be criminals hanging around.  A big spotlight has also been installed to help light up the intersection.  The smash and grabs in July have dropped significantly.  PLEASE REMEMBER TO KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN WHEN DRIVING THROUGH HERE AND KEEP VALUABLES IN YOUR BOOT.

Although there has been a decrease in residential house breakins in 2010, we are still concerned that these figures remain too high.  Most of these have occurred in complexes and most of the thefts have been laptops and flat screen TV’s.  A number of these theft, especially the laptop ones have been “suspect” and are thought to be insurance fraud.  A sign of the tough economic times we find ourselves in.  The increase in business breakins have occurred in shopping centres with very few being in office parks.

One area that we continue being consistently successful is the violent crimes.  Here we believe our network of dedicated patrol vehicles, live monitored CCTV camera’s and crime prevention operations with the SAPS continue to make a difference.

Sunninghill’s land plans

Home Invasion: Robbers disclose what you should know

Extracts from “Home Invasion: Robbers disclose what you should know” a study done by Professor Rudolf  Zinn for information purposes – click here to view Home Invasions in SA ISS

Out of bad comes good

You will all remember the email sent out where flags were stolen in Sunninghill Gardens and the pleasant outcome where the culprits owned up and returned the flags – good coming from bad.

  Well I have another story where an unpleasant situation brought out the best in the community. Early this week I received the following crime report via our webpage.  I have removed the name of the victim.

“I am the latest smash and grab victim on the corner of Witkoppen and Maxwell just before 7pm tonight. I have read the circulars the last couple of weeks cautioning residents against this intersection. I have to admit that I was preoccupied and was not aware of my immediate surroundings. My empty woollies lunchbox was on my passenger seat and I assume the brainless criminal thought it is my handbag. The modus operandi was exactly like you said. I was the 3rd to 4th car at a red robot with a car behind me so that I am boxed. He knocked out my window and my first reaction was that I am being shot at. When I saw the criminal up to the waist in my car I understood what was going on. I managed to fight off the criminal by poking my fingers in his eyes and nose and he left empty handed . A car followed me all the way to the Tudor road gates where I stopped and the driver, a young Indian gentleman, asked me if I was ok. He then told me what really happened. He was the car behind me and he saw that the criminal was approaching my passenger window. He then decided to reverse and drive around me as to hit the criminal with his car away from my window. When he reversed he noticed that there was a second criminal standing with his hand already pulled back ready to break his driver seat window too. The young gentleman then sped off and rammed the criminal into my vehicle pegging him whilst I am gauging his eyes out from the inside of my vehicle. He pulled away when the robot turned green and the criminal limped away empty handed. The young gentleman that acted like a knight in shining armour is a plumber and electrician that does work in the Gardens. Please can you tell people of this brave man and give out his details that our community can support him. His name is Quinton from AA Plumbing and Electrical and his contact details are 084 981 1241 or 083 522 6567 or 011 022 9162.”

Thank you Quinton for caring and not only helping this young lady whilst she was being attached, but by following her to our booms to ensure she was ok.

World cup fears

There has over the past few days been an email in circulation which is tiled “: Worldcup Security Brief”.  This email warns the community of the possibility of criminals taking over the suburbs and I quote:

 “Due to the large number of Police (SAPS) that will be required to actually police the event, the criminals and the security advisors are aware that the World Cup period is going to be like another holiday period for the criminal fraternity. The SAPS will be concentrating on the areas most frequented by visitors/tourists. These will be at the Football stadiums, the Fan parks, ORT airport, hotels in the cities and the routes to the stadiums. This leaves the criminals to have a free run at the suburbs! The criminals are fully aware of this too. They understand that the reaction time for SAPS to get to an incident will be long – if they come at all.” The email goes on to warn of home invasions, driveway robberies, carjackings, kidnappings etc.  

At a recently held SAPS meeting I asked of the Sandton Police whether they had sufficient manpower to protect our suburb and others in Sandton over the worldcup and if we were going to be left vulnerable as the email in circulation suggests.  Those attending the SAPS meeting were told that the Sandton SAPS were to have additional manpower over this time and that they were confident that they would be able to police our suburb adequately, not leaving us exposed.  Certainly the crime prevention operations that the police hold with our security provider, Savika are going ahead over the next few weeks as planned.  Brig Billings the station commander of the Sandton Police Station has made the following response to the email above, again I quote:

“ Brig Billings has asked me to respond to you with regards to the e-mail concerning World Cup Security that you forwarded to him.

Numerous measures have been put in place for the Soccer World Cup, but members of the public must not confuse these measures with normal day to day policing activities.

There are specialized groups of SAPS members that have received call up instructions to police the stadiums, and ensure overall safety during the World Cup.  

These groups are mainly from specialized units, and not part of the normal SAPS members at station level.

Sandton SAPS will still have normal patrols and crime prevention duties.  Additional manpower for the World Cup is coming from members who are off duty, they will be called up during their off days to specifically patrol areas in Sandton which have been identified as high influx of tourists, and possible problem areas.

The focus for the SAPS is not only to police the World Cup, but to continue policing the station precinct as we would before and after the World Cup.

Please note that Sandton SAPS does not comment on World Cup related matters, only the Provincial office may.”

As many residents have sent me the “Worldcup Security Brief” email and are very concerned about the content of this email I felt the need to respond to all.  Our security team in Sunninghill is as concerned as you are, however we would hate this email to cause panic amongst our residents.  We run a tight ship in our suburb and have discussed the potential security threat this event might hold for us and have put plans in place to secure our area from criminals.  Our security company will be working very closely with our Sector Policing saps manager, who is very dedicated to Sunninghill.  Manpower, we are not short of and Savika are always available to assist the Sandton SAPS with any and all crime prevention operations.

We are entering an exciting few weeks and we as a team will be doing our bit.  Guards are being trained on what to look for over this time; guards are been retrained on pro-active patrolling and visible policing; rewards are being offered to our guards and reaction officers.  These rewards will vary in amounts depending on the information received or arrest made.  You know we will do our best — what can you do?  Be vigilant and report ANYTHING out of the ordinary or suspicious to 0861savika.  Don’t be complacent with your security, especially now.  Make sure you set your alarms and make sure they are working.  Phone your security providers control room, don’t tell them who you are and notify them that you wish to test your alarm.  Re-iterate to your domestics the rules about who they let into your homes.  The motto of “don’t trust anyone” is a good one.  When you celebrate the soccer, don’t neglect your security – don’t leave gates open, don’t leave garage doors open and if you need to press your panic button – remember – press it once and hold it down for a second or two.  DO not press and press again, many systems if you press the panic twice too quickly the one will cancel the other.  

If we are community minded, look out for each other, are vigilant and “security wise”, we will be fine. Let’s not let these fears ruin our celebrations – enjoy your soccer and go Bafana Bafana!!!