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!!!