CSI Newsletter 30 June 2022

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This is a very important update as we've seen a large number of attempted and successful housebreakings over the last month.
 
As detailed below, a housebreaking suspect was arrested at the beginning of June by SAPS & CBCSI. Unfortunately the courts let the suspect go and following his release we have seen housebreaking incidents occur almost every night. Please read the full report for the details and ongoing activities to address this problem.
 
This newsletter also contains important information about other aspects of the current crime trend and incidents.
 
We at CBCSI believe that the better you are informed the better we can do in protecting ourselves, our families and our neighbourhood.
 
CBCSI continues to play a critical role in keeping crime away and intervening to prevent an incident happening or to minimise the effects of a crime incident. This newsletter is a free service to all our residents but as you know CBCSI needs your voluntary funding contribution to keep running. CBCSI responded to a total 255 incidents in June, so please make every effort to support our voluntary monthly levy of R395 per month. It makes such a difference and we are struggling to make ends meet with the enormous demands on our time and services. We expect load shedding to continue as we recognise that this increases the security risk to our residents and our properties. We are doing everything we can to mitigate this but it is a very big challenge. Please remember we are a voluntary not for profit entity created by the community, for the community.
 
We’d like to extend a big thank you to our Tactical Unit (Tac 1) operators for their role and their professionalism in dealing with such a high (and increasing) number of incidents and to the controllers and WhatchCon. Also a big shout out to Ty and JJ for the massive amount of extra hours worked, the support you give SAPS and your convening and co-ordination of the armed response companies in Camps Bay when needed for bigger rapid response.
 
We were all devastated by the tragic house fire which occurred on the 9^th June, the CBCSI Team sends our heartfelt condolences to everyone who was affected by the tragedy.

• Night Crawlers targeting Camps Bay
• Vagrancy in Camps Bay
• Crime Statistics
• House Fire

Night Crawlers targeting Camps Bay Camps Bay has been plagued for many years by 1 or 2 teams of housebreakers known locally as the 'night crawlers' who are responsible for the majority of our Housebreaking incidents in Camps Bay.  These individuals operate at night and work quietly, using green belts to move with reduced risk of detection. They will probe to see if alarms are on or bypassing alarms where they desire and are able to, entering houses through unlocked doors and windows. They usually do minimal damage and just carefully remove the window, but occasionally pry open a door or lift a sliding door off its rails. Usually they are in and out without anyone knowing any better and the occupants only find out they were broken into when they awake. CBCSI has been, over the last year and a half, getting closer and closer to apprehending some of the suspects. Following a close call where they were nearly caught, CBCSI & SAPS finally apprehended a suspect on Wednesday, 1st June, with his partner managing to make a run for it and escaping. The individuals were immediately recognised from multiple sources of video footage captured at crime scenes and suspicious sightings. The suspect was apprehended and when searched by SAPS, was found with multiple house breaking and car breaking implements. The Suspect was also wearing multiple layers of clothing and had additional disguises in his bag, and was carrying gloves and a torch. The suspect was not able to provide an adequate reason for why he was there and why he had those tools with him so late at night and so was arrested by SAPS. Unfortunately the courts saw fit to let the suspect go without providing any reasoning, even though the detectives opposed bail on the grounds that the individual was a foreigner, is not a South African citizen or resident, and did not have any positive form of ID including no passport. Since the individual's release, Camps Bay has been plagued with house breakings occurring almost every night. We urge residents to open cases even for attempted house breakings as we desperately require the additional resources these cases can provide in terms of video footage or where the suspect has been seen in person. Without an official case the evidence does not hold weight in court and weakens the case against the suspect. We again remind residents to ensure that you have tested your alarms, that your unprotected doors and windows are locked and your alarms are armed. If you haven't already, consider setting up your alarm or partitioning your alarm in a way that allows you to move around your house in a liveable way while keeping yourselves and your loved ones safe. We caution all residents living close to the natural greenbelts and bushy areas (not just bordering them) to be on high alert and report any suspicious activity to CBCSI Control on 0214382000 without

Vagrancy in Camps Bay Informal Dwellings   Ward Councillor Nicola Jowell has stressed that residents should make use of the various reporting mechanisms to assist in dealing with vagrants erecting structures: Law enforcement - 107 or 021 480 7700 Social Development - 0800 872 201 General service requests - 0860 103 089 Online requests - https://eservices1.capetown.gov.za/.../zsreq_app/index.html As more reports are registered with the various government departments, the more resources that can be accessed to deal with the issue.  It is not within the mandate of CBCSI to remove people or structures ourselves, but we do provide the CoCT departments with information and support to address areas of concern. A recent combined operation helped assist 13 children and 8 adults off the streets and into care of people staying in the area between Victoria Rd and Kloof Rd.    Aggressive Vagrants   Should you be confronted by an aggressive vagrant / person begging then please go to SAPS and open a case of intimidation.   This empowers SAPS and CBCSI to be able to prevent the person from staying in the area and allows for them to be arrested when multiple cases have been opened against individuals.

Crime Statistics

The following are all reports made directly to CBCSI and does not include reports made to SAPS. CBCSI responded to a total 194 incidents in May

Burglary Residential  First Crescent – 24 May at 02h53 Suspected Night Crawlers forced open a sliding door and many valuable items were stolen. Residents only became aware of the intrusion the following morning. Francolin Road – 23 May at 10h56 window smashed and bars broken. Undetermined what property has been stolen and no case opened.  Fulham Road – 20 May at 12h28 –Door forced open with crowbar and valuable items stolen. Case opened with SAPS. Houghton Road – 19 May at 19h04 – ADT request assistance for positive burglary where door was forced open and many valuables stolen. Case opened with SAPS. Upper Tree Road – 14 May at 15h52 – 2 suspects forced entry into the property and multiple items stolen. First Crescent – 12 May between 22h30 and 09h00  - window removed to gain entry to the property and multiple valuable items were stolen. Clifton Steps, Clifton – 9 May at 10h30 – suspect was attempting to gain entry to the property through a sliding door but was chased away by the housekeeper.  Attempted Burglary – Residential Rontree Heights Isadore Cohen Place – 31 May at 23h54 – resident was woken by a noise and when inspecting the property it was discovered a window had been removed from the frame. Medburn Road – 18 May at 14h22 – suspect made multiple attempts to access the property and after breaking a glass wall the housekeeper was alerted and the suspect ran away. First Crescent – 14 May at 23h30 – Suspects were seen on camera removing putty from a window in an attempt to gain entry to the home. They were disturbed while doing this and fled the scene.  Theft Dal Road – 28 May at 09h45 – Suspect was able to gain access to the property and use keys to enter a store room where valuable equipment was stolen. Hely Hutchinson – 24 May at 18h28 – A DVR was reported stolen from the property but on inspection many other valuable items had not been taken. Ravensteyn Road - 23 May at 16h24 – gate motor was stolen. No case opened with SAPS. Woodford Avenue – 23 May at 14h15 – Copper pipes stolen from a property Missing Person 19 May 10h26 - Camps Bay - CBCSI was informed of a elderly gentleman who had gone missing from Steenberg. At 10h53 CBCSI Response located the gentleman vehicle in Camps Bay which appeared to be damaged. They were unable to find the missing man but informed SAPS that the vehicle had been located. The gentleman was later found in another area and his family were able to collect his car. The gentleman had suffered a medical problem that lead to the incident.  Intimidation 31 May at 17h31 - Victoria Road Camps Bay Beach - Resident reported a car guard threatened him and his daughter with a knife. Unknown if case was opened with SAPS.