Crime in the first few months of 2009
As you can see there was a drastic drop in all forms of crime. Burglary Residential, however still remains our number 1 problem in Sunninghill. The vast majority of these crime occur in high density complexes. This is the trend not only in Sunninghill but in the entire Sandton and it is because of this that the Sandton SAPS recently invited Body Corporate members and trustees of complexes to a meeting to discuss this problem. Have a look at the article “Crime in Residential Complexes” for more info.
Unfortunately March has seen an increase in crime throughout Sandton and this includes Sunninghill. Although our figures are still down on the same period last year they have increased from February. We have noted at our meetings with the SAPS an increase once again of driveway robberies and car-jackings throughout Sandton. Although Sunninghill has not been victim to any car-jackings we have had two driveway robberies and one armed robbery in a residential house.
- Residential armed robbery occurred in a house where there seems to have been some dispute between the owner and builders on site with regards to payment. The owners were held up with a fire-arm and a number of small items stolen.
- Driveway/house robbery occurred when a resident’s gate was out of order and standing open. A white Toyota venture arrived at the property and the domestics and the owner of the property was tied up and robbed. Very clear footage of this vehicle with number plates was downloaded from the Sunninghill Community Security CCTV cameras. This footage also showed the wording of a company name on the back window, where the stickers had been removed and due to the light the camera was able to pick up the residue left by the sticker. This has been handed over to the SAPS and they are following up on the leads this provided them.
- Driveway robbery occurred when power was cut to a certain section of Sunninghill Estates. The residents arrived home, saw the power was off and went out for dinner. Upon their return they had to manually open the garage doors to move the cars into the garage. While this occurred they were accosted by 3 armed suspects. We have managed to ascertain that they were not followed home from the restaurant by viewing footage of the cameras at the shopping centre. As uncommon as this is, it appears an opportunistic crime. An issue worth taking note of that came out of this incident is that should you need to press your panic button for an emergency, you should do so only once; if you press it repeatedly it cancels the previous activation.
In the business node, we are pleased to say that negotiations that Sunninghill Community and our Ward Councillor Annette Deppe have been holding for quite some time with the “about to be new owners” of the old Falcon Crest property in Kikuyu road have been successful. Thursday the 12th saw machinery being moved into this property and the beginning of the demotition of the old buildings and the clearing of the site. We would like to thank Edge Property (acting on behalf of the new owners) for their assistance and response to our cry for help. This property has for years been a thorn in our side with regards to violent crime and drug deals in this part of Sunninghill.
Anther successful story of community and business working together to solve the problems we face in Sunninghill.
Be aware of your surroundings, keep an eye on vehicles behind you or parked in the street and most of all be SAFE.