Sunninghill Community Security

SUNNINGHILL COMMUNITY SECURITY INITITIATIVE
Creating a great place to live, work & relax in a secure and beautiful environment

The Sunninghill Community Security came about due to the unacceptable levels of crime Sunninghill was experiencing.  Non-violent crime plagued our area due to building activity, squatters and loiterers in the area.  What was of particular concern however was that violent crime had increased at an alarming rate.  Not a week went by without at least one of the following crimes occurring:  Armed Robberies in residential and business units; Driveway Robberies; Smash and grabs and hijackings.  This high crime rate meant that the personal safety of you and your family and friends were at significant risk and your property values negatively affected.

The way we reacted to these crimes in the past was to install electric fences and alarms and have them monitored by an armed response company, and possibly to install CCTV.  These measures are necessary, but not enough any longer.  Armed driveway and house robberies were occurring weekly despite these measures, even at households and complexes which do have such measures implemented.

Sunninghill Community started a crime reduction initiative based on months of  research and came up with an initiative that we felt would reduce crime in our area significantly.

Phase I:

We put measures in place to:

• Stop the crime before it’s committed.
• Created an environment were it is difficult to operate as a criminal.
• Created an area that says “we have zero tolerance” with regards to crime
• We have clearly identified pro-active Savika Armed Response dedicated” Community Patrol” vehicles that also perform “Armed Response” functions. These vehicles main function is to patrol, identify and remove suspicious pedestrians and vehicles from our area.  The secondary function of these vehicles is armed response for those wishing to be linked to them with much faster response times than normally available.
• Management of the performance of these vehicles by way of a service level agreement with the security provider.
• “Bulk buying power” ensures that we receive good pricing and the kind of service we should.
  Members pay only monitoring costs at a much reduced rate to be linked to these vehicles should they wish to.

The new Sunninghill Community Security Initiative was first launched in Sunninghill Gardens with fantastic results.   Sunninghill Gardens is now experiencing its lowest crime stats in eight years.  This initiative was so successful that we then introduced the same pro-active policing in both Sunninghill Estates and Sunninghill Park.  In these areas too we have seen a massive drop in crime, especially the violent crime.  Sunninghill Gardens and Estates each have their own dedicated Savika Armed Response pro-active patrol vehicle and in Sunninghill Park we at present have two dedicated vehicles.  Due to the size of Sunninghill Park we hope here to increase the number to at least four over a period of time.

Working together as a community in our fight against crime is the other very important element in us eradicating crime from our area.  Sunninghill Community Security has weekly meetings with the SAPS, residents, businesses and various security companies, where crime statistics are discussed and crime prevention operations planned.  These include: raiding of squatter settlements in vacant land and along the Sandspruit River between Sunninghill and Paulshof; raids on building sites and stop and search road blocks with security companies assisting the SAPS.

Phase II:

CCTV monitored live from a control room in Sunninghill.  Thirty four cameras, eleven in Sunninghill Estates and nine in Sunninghill Park and fourteen in Sunninghill Gardens have already been installed and are working well, these are all being monitored live.  The aim is to have these cameras at all the major intersections around Sunninghill, our own “inner city” type CCTV.  A suspect vehicle will not be able to enter, move around or leave Sunninghill without being picked up by these cameras.  The control room staff that are monitoring these cameras are in constant contact with the dedicated patrol vehicles around Sunninghill.  Should they see anything suspicious they can direct the patrol vehicles and the SAPS as they follow the movement of the suspect’s car.  In one year alone a number of criminals have been arrested by the SAPS as a direct result of our existing CCTV cameras.

We urge all residents and businesses to join us in our fight against crime.  Contact our Sunninghill Community Security Manager Linda Gildenhuys on security@suncomm.co.za or 083 440 2381 to find out more.