Rosemount fights crime scourge
Incidents on decline as suburb’s residents establish CPF, patrols
ROSEMOUNT residents have taken the fight against crime in to their own hands, establishing their own neighbourhood watch or Community Policing Forum (CPF).
The drive has also brought the community together in a way that is benefiting the area.
While running regular patrols of the neighbourhood, the community have also come together to improve service delivery, maintenance and upkeep in their small corner of the world.
Volunteers have taken to temporarily repairing potholes, installing locks and fixing electric motor gates for fellow community members.
In an effort to eliminate litter in their streets, the community has started a black bag collection in their area.
“The black bags are picked up from the streets and dropped off at a central point for BCM to collect on the dedicated collection day,” Rosemount CPF member, Serena Vosloo said.
“We also encourage neighbourhood clean-ups of the open veld areas, streets and park areas and our once overgrown and littered fields are now freshly cut and wellmaintained by residents.”
Starting in August with only a few residents, the Rosemount CPF has since grown with almost all of the Rosemount residents volunteering or taking part in one way or another. “The majority of our patrollers have full-time jobs and give up sleep and time with their families to patrol during the night.
“We hold meetings once a month and dedicated residents run daily and nightly patrols on a volunteer basis,” Vosloo said.
“We have a separate emergency group so that we can aid and respond to any problems quickly. We also create awareness of suspicious activity through our three main WhatsApp groups,” she said.
All patrols are voluntary with community members utilising their own vehicles at their own expense. Items needed for the patrols, such as torches and vests, have been generously donated by businesses or residents in the area.
The community's latest success saw the arrest of a cable thief recently. Caught red-handed by patrolling community members, the thief was taken into custody by the South African Police Service.
“Crime in the area has decreased tremendously in the last six weeks and we’ve received an unbelievable amount of support from local business owners and residents in the area,” Vosloo said.