A brief history

The I Love Kensington Association has the responsibility of assisting residents in matters that relate to environment, safety, community life and the promotion of Kensington as a desirable place to live. Over the past two years there has been a steady increase in crime in our area affecting many aspects of our lives. The I Love Kensington Association identified this as a big problem, so following the launch of a very successful ‘Red Ribbon’ campaign in November 2009, we spearheaded the Anti Crime initiative that was proposed to the community. We had a phenomenal turn out by the community and we accepted this as a go ahead to look at ways of reducing crime in Kensington.

After approaching the community and proposing a form of community based proactive policing, we launched the next phase of the project which was to start planning and brainstorming around issues such as how to deal with the already high costs of security that local residents have to manage, how to incorporate as many security related role players into the system as possible, and how to ensure that the initiative is effective and successful going into the future.

The KNCI (Kensington No Crime Initiative) System

• We have approached a number of role players and started the process of incorporating them into the initiative, thus ensuring that residents get a bundle of services rather than one aspect of security only.
• We have launched two surveillance vehicles that operate 24/7 reporting and recording, via camera, activities that may take place around Kensington.
• The current three month pilot phase will determine whether the initiative has the support of the community. We have set up an sms line and call centre (078 459 0455) to manage the process of gathering information from the community. SMS YES or NO to 078 459 0455 or e-mail to indicate whether or not you are likely to subscribe.
• We aim to approach the major players in the area and canvas their support, thus passing on their services under the banner of KNCI while they still work independently.

KNCI into the future

This initiative is wholly community based and driven by a small group of volunteers. Obviously the role players aim to make money out of the services they offer and the better the service they offer the more successful they will ultimately become in Kensington. We would like to see this initiative grow and transform our neighbourhood into a place where we feel safe and welcome. Community support for the project will determine the success or failure of the, time will tell.

A word of warning

This mail is not aimed at creating a scare but rather to inform our residents and assist in raising awareness around crime during the world cup.

The information provided here has been presented to residents of Bedfordview by by Mr Aubrey Pieters an independent security advisor. Due to the large number of Police (SAPS) that will be required to actually police the World Cup, 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 International Airport, hotels in the cities and the routes to the stadiums. This leaves the criminals to have free run in 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 crimes that are expected to increase are house robberies, driveway robberies and carjacking at your home.

House Robberies. These are likely to take place when the criminals see a number of cars in driveways of homes. This would indicate that there are a group of friends watching a match who will be distracted. Normally alcohol is involved and there is usually a door open where the guys have been at the braai. They will attempt to jump the fence or get into the property and rob everyone of their personal effects.

Carjackings. No change to the normal brief. Gangs will target women (normally) in a supermarket and inform other gang members who are in the car park waiting to follow you home. The advice is to pay attention to who else turns the same way as you do at junctions. The car tailing you is likely to be 3 or 4 cars back. If you think you are being tailed head to a petrol station or large shopping centre and get out the car and phone for help. Do not try to get home and get in the front gate. Either phone your security company and get them to meet you somewhere or better still phone the Police.

Driveway robberies. Be very aware of who or what is in your street or outside your house when you approach it. If somebody is loitering or if you pass a car with one or two occupants apparently sat idly, do not enter your drive.. Always pull up parallel to your drive and open the gate. Never pull up in front of the gate and then open it. That will be the time when you get boxed in by the car full of troublemakers and you won’t have much time to react. They are then likely to steal what you have on you (wallets, purses, rings, mobile phones, laptops etc) and then shoot off or worse still get you to open the house and go in with you.

For those of you who are going to the games, the trouble you are likely to come across will be either a few drunken individuals looking for a fight or pickpockets. The security agencies are aware that major public gatherings like the World Cup will attract international pickpockets from around the world. These guys are experts and you will not know that it has happened until many hours later. Gents wallets are normally kept in the back right pocket of trousers. Move it. Split your money and cards. Be careful.

Smash and grabs will increase too. Tourists will leave cameras, phones and bags on car seats. Rich pickings for the smash and grab gangs. If you don’t already have the smash and grab film on your car windows go and get it done now. If you can’t afford it, the advice is to drive with your windows down about 5 cms. This makes it 4 times harder to smash the window.

For those with children the World Cup is going to be a particularly bad time for child abductions. In South Africa there are 15 abductions/kidnappings every day and they see this as a crime which will get out of hand over the World Cup period. Human trafficking gangs know that the schools are all on holiday over the tournament. They will target shopping malls, cafes, cinemas, public toilets and toy departments in shops. The SA authorities estimate that approx 300,000 Africans will come over the borders for the tournament. The borders will not be able to cope with the surge and checks will be cursory in most cases. Babies will be abducted for scrupulous adoption agencies in Nigeria and the like. Children aged 4-8 will be targeted for the porn industry and those children around 9 – 13 for prostitution.

Keep an eye on your children! Do not send them off to the toilets alone. Do not let them go to the toy section while you do the rest of your shopping.

The Key message is that crime is likely to increase and the response by the Police will be slow. Stay alert and street wise and you should be fine.