Muggings rife in Lansdowne
Muggings are the most commonly reported crimes in Lansdowne, says the precinct’s police chief.
Flamingo Crescent and Lansdowne Road are mugging hot spots, and most of Lansdowne’s crime happened from 9am to noon on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, Colonel Michael van der Bergh told about 50 people during a residents’ meeting called by Ward 60 councillor Mark Kleinschmidt at the Range Road hall in Kenywn on Wednesday last week.
The muggers verbally threatened, assaulted or pulled guns on their victims, Colonel Van der Bergh said, adding that police had also arrested some perpetrators carrying imitation guns.
“We want to have more integrated operations with neighbourhood watches and other entities. There is a staff shortage. I would be glad if we had more boots on the ground,” he said.
Ward 60 covers parts of Lansdowne, Athlone, Mowbray Rondebosch East and Sybrand Park.
Mr Kleinschmidt told the meeting that some of vagrants squatting at Lansdowne train station’s parking lot had moved but not all of them.
“The vagrants there at the moment are violent and vicious and refuse to move. We have applied for an eviction notice. They urinate and defecate all over the show.
“When you see a new shack going up anywhere, report it. Every call Is logged and has a reference number. The neighbourhood watch is able to go there and stop those people from erecting a structure.”
City metal theft unit senior inspector Daryl Domeyer advised residents to report scrap-metal businesses so that the City could check whether they were registered.
“We depend on communities to be our eyes and eyes. Without the intervention of the community, we can't do as much as we do. The City pays up to R20 000 for info leading to a successful arrest. We need to arrest the person with possession of the goods. In this way, we help you to help us out there,” he said.
Lansdowne resident Alan Caulfield asked how many scrapyard owners had been prosecuted to which Mr Domeyer responded, “none“, adding that it was usually the scrapyard’s employees, not the owners, who were caught.
“Business get blacklisted by the City for the contravention. None in the area have been blacklisted,” he said.
Inspector Shaun Newman, from City Law Enforcement, said they tried to work with the owners of problem buildings as prosecuting them was a last resort.
“We issue a notice of intended inspection in seven days time to the owner and give the owner 21 days to deal with issues. If they don't comply, we issue a notice of declaration to declare the property as a problem building, and they get fined R5000 quarterly, which is added to rates and taxes.“
The City took the owner to court if they failed to comply with the notice after 21 days, he said.
“The whole process takes about four months.”
Lansdowne resident Tasneem Brown said crime and social ills in the area worsened by the day.
“The solution is to get drug dens out of the area,” she said.
Lanroe Neighbourhood Watch member Rashaad Davids said the police were understaffed and took a long time to respond to the watch’s calls for help. He also complained the Mr Kleinschmidt had not responded to emails about a range of issues, including stop signs that needed to be repainted, the high number of smash and grabs on the M5, vagrancy and illegal dumping.
Garlandale resident Shaakirah Adams said residents marked their municipal refuse bins to prevent them from being stolen.
Lanscor, Lanroe, Garlandale, Nerissa, and Kenwyn neighbourhood watches and Amity Way Street Watch received first-aid kits from Mr Kleinschmidt during the meeting.
