National Arts Festival organisers, the security companies they've employed and the SAPS are the "mean team" that has kept crime in Grahamstown at relatively low levels during the 2015 edition of the annual event.
National Arts Festival organisers, the security companies they've employed and the SAPS are the "mean team" that has kept crime in Grahamstown at relatively low levels during the 2015 edition of the annual event.
With the joint focus on crime prevention, say the police, they are confident Grahamstown will remain safe for the rest of Festival.
"Today we have reached the halfway mark and we are feeling quietly confident that crime in the City will remain at the low levels experienced so far," Captain Milanda Coetzer, Grahamstown Crime Intelligence Officer, said this evening.
She said the Grahamstown SAPS, with assistance from Provincial personnel, had focused on the prevention of crime in Grahamstown during the Festival.
"High visibility by means of vehicle, foot and mounted patrols are the order of the day. These include specific patrols in high density areas, for instance High Street, Village Green; Church Square and Fiddlers Green," Coetzer said.
However it wasn't only the central Festival area that had received a policing boost.
"The outer perimeter also receives attention with local staff from the Crime Prevention Unit focusing on patrols there."
The Grahamstown Highway Patrol squad was operational on the national roads feeding Grahamstown.
"As the Grahamstown National Arts Festival has been categorised as a medium risk event in terms of Act 2 of 2010 – the Safety at Events Act – security of the Festival is shared by the organisers, their employed security companies and the SAPS," Coetzer said. "
I believe this group makes, as the saying goes, a mean team."
Coetzer said the main focus of the SAPS had been the prevention of thefts both from persons and vehicles.
"Unfortunately, in the crush of people moving from venues and going to restaurants, pickpocketing does occur. We have had several confirmed thefts where handbags were cut to gain access to property inside.
"Some of the more well-known pubs and restaurants have experienced similar incidents with handbags, tablets, wallets, clothing and numerous other items being lost from people's care when there is a crush of people."
Coetzer said some members of the public were far too relaxed about basic security.
"Walking into one of the restaurants (which we specifically visited this afternoon because of a case docket opened earlier today) one can see the notices up against the wall – 'Please look after your possessions'," Coetzer said.
"Yet restaurateurs are informing us that members of the public, who frequent their premises, actually treat them as fools when they remind them to take care of their property.
"In general people are relaxed and enjoying the Festival and are not considering the safety of their possessions."
Festival crime-prevention tips from Grahamstown SAPS
* Know where your property is at all times. Don't expect the security guard or pub owner to take responsibility for your personal belongings.
* Do not lock your valuables in the car in plain sight of anyone passing the car. Festival visitors will leave their cars parked for hours on end and these visible items like cellphones, GPS systems and even tablets are an open invitation for cars to be broken into.
* Ladies, please do not leave your handbag on the ground or hanging over the back of the chair in a restaurant or pub. You tend to forget it when you go to powder your nose and it becomes an open invitation for theft of either your handbag or the purse and cellphone inside.
* If possible do not carry a handbag during the Festival. Rather use a belt bag over which you have complete and constant control.
* Gentlemen, please carry your wallet in your inside jacket pocket or your front pants pocket. If it is in your back pocket, or the side pockets of your jacket, it will be stolen.
* Please lock all your belongings in the boot of your car. Try and do this before you reach your final destination so that curious eyes will not be able to identify what it is you have locked away.
* When you lock your car with a remote control, physically check that the doors are actually locked before your leave.
* For all the moms out there – please carry your cellphone on your person and do not leave it in the handbag you have left in the pram you are pushing. Your handbag and cellphone are two seconds away from being lifted from your care. We wish all visitors to our City a safe and happy time for the remainder of the Festival.
– Compiled by Captain Milanda Coetzer, Grahamstown Crime Intelligence Officer
