Standing together

When we moved into our house, there was no fence at all. We put one up after we had a break in, and although it felt a bit like living in a prison, we thought it would be irresponsible not to take all reasonable precautions to prevent harm coming to anyone living in the house. For a while we felt safer, but then, two years ago, crime began to escalate rapidly. By that stage, most people in our area were living behind high walls and fences, but these did not prevent burglaries, armed robberies and attempted hijackings becoming the order of the day.

Then two women who are neighbours decided to take action. They began holding community meetings, and after a lot of discussion, the community in this area implemented two things: a community patrol and an sms system. The patrol is run by a security company employed by the community. Men on quad bikes patrol the area 24 hours a day. People living in the patrol area contribute financially to cover the costs. Financial contributions are voluntary, but enough people contribute to make the patrol a viable option. The sms system allows us to alert each other via our cell phones if we notice anything strange or if we have a problem that other people in the area should know about. In addition to preventing crime, the system has helped reunite a parrot, rabbits and numerous dogs with their owners. On one occasion it was used to find a lost child (thankfully this only took 10 minutes).

The results? Crime has dropped by 97% since implementing the patrol. The community has a good working relationship with the police. Co-operation is spreading into other areas; a joint venture with the Parks department is underway to upgrade a small park in the area; one park clean-up by residents has already taken place. A newsletter is being produced, meetings and community braais are held; neighbours now know each other better and high walls feel less like prisons. Safety is a community issue, and standing together does make a difference. Crime remains something we need to be aware of, but we now feel less helpless and scared by it.

Crime is a difficult thing to deal with. While I condemn crime, and any violence and victimisation of people, I am uncomfortable with the fact that discussions about crime often assume that the world is two dimensional, made up of criminals and victims; baddies and goodies. None of us are wholly good or wholly bad. Probably, given certain circumstances, I too, would be capable of criminal action. But recognizing this should not prevent us from taking responsbility for preventing harm to ourselves. Standing together as a community is a way doing this. How we choose to stand together will be different in different communities. Employing a security company will not always be the answer, but the principle of working together as a community is the start of a good crime prevention strategy.

Labels: community, crime

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