On Thursday afternoon the official launch of a new collective crime-fighting initiative took place at The Highlander.
On Thursday afternoon the official launch of a new collective crime-fighting initiative took place at The Highlander.
Managing director of Business Against Crime Eastern Cape (BAC), Bryan Howard, came to Grahamstown to begin the Rapid Urban Response (RUR) initiative. The primary aim of RUR is to synchronise the efforts of emergency responders including the SAPS, municipal emergency services and private security companies like Hi-Tec.
BAC has secured a dedicated frequency for these agencies and a radio repeater which Hi-Tec will monitor. A customer who calls any emergency number will see a co-ordinated response.
Additionally, BAC has purchased a dozen hand-held and mobile radios for SAPS to use during patrols in conjunction with the Community Policing Forum.
According to Glenda Duffy, Chairperson of the CPF, 13 of her volunteers have so far been trained in areas including baton use, crime scene management, and smart patrolling.
Though Howard presided over the launch, the future course and effectiveness of RUR will be determined by a steering committee made up of representatives from major stakeholders in the initiative: Makana Traffic Services, Provincial Traffic, Hi-Tec Security, Netcare 911, the Rhodes Campus Protection Unit, the CPF and SAPS.
Brigadier Morgan Govender, Station Commander for the Grahamstown SAPS, is one such committee member. Govender was Station Commander in Port Alfred when the parallel Rapid Rural Response program was successfully launched there in 2008, and he credited it for the huge decrease in crime in the town's CBD.
The average of 30-60 muggings each December in the Centenary Park area had dropped to 0 by the time he left in 2009. The component that was most powerful in cutting crime in Port Alfred, however, was a 360 degree closed-circuit camera. Such a camera costs up to R18 000, and whether one will be installed here will depend on the amount of support that comes from Grahamstown businesses.
Here in Grahamstown, SAPS faces credibility issues stemming from poor response times, said Govender, conceding that, "Hi-Tec on most occasions is beating us to the draw." Govender declared his support for the RUR program, and his wish that all the stakeholders become fully involved with ensuring its success.
