Debit order Payments which have not been honoured and members who are behind with their EFT's and cash payments can look forward to suspension of their membership, and their CCPO boards will be removed over the course of the next week. Please ensure your membership is up to date.

I am sure you all saw the terrific supplement sponsored by CCPO members and put in the local South Coast Sun on Thursday. Thank you to all of you who made it possible both with the advertising as well as the Team at the South Coast Sun who put so much effort into it. We really appreciate all the support. Also a big thank you goes out to Snr. Supt. Grobler, who took time out of his very busy day to be included in our team photo.

We are looking for a sponsor of 2 first aid kits, for our vehicles. The operations managers are constantly attending to people who need medical assistance and it would be nice if they had some basic first aid kits. Even if we just get small cooler bags, and have the contents donated by members of the community. Let's see what you can put together for us.

To all our Businesses on board, If you wish to have anything advertised on our website, let me know and I shall put you in touch with our webmaster to see how we shall go about it.

If you have a website then please consider having a link to the CCPO added to yours.

Now Members take note of whether your neighbour or friend is a member. If not, go and ask them, why not and give them a contract. See attached, then don't leave it, get it returned to you or better still to us. We need more of the community to sign up. Please encourage membership.

Lastly I just wanted to let you know that seen as we like to support local, the show 'Broadway is my Beat' showing at Amanzimtoti Civic Centre as of tomorrow Sept 24th and running through to Friday 26th is all of our own children. So please support them they have worked very hard at this for months and it is a show well worth seeing. Tickets for Wednesday are almost sold out but for  Thursday and Friday's performances, tickets are still available at the door or contact Elzaan at 0768176324.

That's all for now, look out for our guards and response teams at the different intersections during the week.

Thanks for the support and for those who do not have email we have taken a page in the Home Ads to advise our non e mail members of where the crime is taking place. So let them know to look out for that.

Bye for now
Tracy

Blue Security, have organised a training session for all CCPO members as well as Blue Clients including any interested community members. It is a Domestic Training session to be held at Lords and Legends at 10.30 am on Thursday morning. Thanks to Bruce of Lords and Legends for sponsoring the venue.

Fraud

There is a black woman that is harassing Nedbank clients and robbing the old clients by swapping their cards and getting their pin numbers.  She lies to the old clients claiming that she is a Nedbank employee and she has Nedbank brochures which she shows them and says that there is a competition running and that they need to enter at the ATM.  Once she takes them to the ATM, she swaps the card and gets their pin number.  She then uses the card at stores. Please be on the look out for her.

If you have a great deal of foliage around your perimeter fence, then take the time to make an inspection of this fencing. A resident in Spencer Road Athlone Park has alerted us to the fact that his fence has had a doorway big enough to allow one person at a time to enter into his premesis.

Stay Alert

Thanks
Tracy Campbell

CCPO employ the Services of Blue Security as our Preferred Service Provider. They supply the control room where all your emergency calls are attended to. Blue Security also supply the Armed Guarding Inspector and vehicle as well as a backup Blue Armed Response Vehicle. Blue Security have a special rate for all CCPO clients who sign up new contracts with them. Only R195.00 per month and a finders fee is passed on to the CCPO. We that means everyone connected with CCPO benefit from every contract signed with Blue, as everything we make goes right back into employing more guards. Blue in turn have subcontracted the guarding contract to Securi Serv who supply and equip the two thirds of our guards.

Completing our complement are armed guards who are supplied by Security International. Their sister company is Mzansi who have offered us the use of their response vehicle, when the operations personnel may require additional back up.

We continue in our attempts to involve all other crime fighting organisations without compromising the partnership we have forged with Blue Security. Thanks always, to all those hard working SAPS members. Creating a safer place to live...together!

A member has stated that a few weeks back "my baby was crawling in the front yard (Rockview Road) and a white male of about 30 years old entered our property, and was about to pick him up.

Our shock was that when we approached him, he ran away, before getting to our child. Very scary experience! Does anyone have anymore info on the (3 year old baby) that was almost stolen from a local centre, perhaps his description is the same? I believe that we may have a very big problem in Toti in this regard! I have also been informed from my domestic worker that babies' are in high demand from 'sangomas' to use organs for "medicine"!!!!

Cindy added this

"Further to the e-mails and enquiries about the kidnapped child at a local shopping centre, please note that the child was NOT taken. The mother grabbed the child and the suspect fled. However, the confusion came in where it appears that there is camera footage of the incident and a reward is being raised to catch the suspect, not to find the child! The suspect is a black man, not a white man as initially circulated."

Have a great Weekend
Tracy

By Arthi Sanpath

An Amanzimtoti police officer is facing corruption charges after allegedly accepting money from two people who wanted to pass a recruitment test.

They were trying to be recruited into the SAPS

Inspector Sibongiseni Mgobhozi, 38, on Thursday appeared in the Durban magistrate's court to apply for bail.

The officer, who has 14 years' police experience, is facing two charges of corruption.

Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Jay Naicker said the officer was "alleged to have solicited bribes from two persons during the recruiting process".

Corruption

He said colleagues of Mgobhozi became suspicious after they found two women who had failed the physical tests were undergoing other tests during the recruiting process earlier in 2008.

"Police officials immediately opened a case of corruption against the suspect and the case was investigated by the organised crime unit," Naicker said.

At the bail application hearing, Prosecutor Khatija Essack said the state did not oppose bail, but asked for a large sum to be paid.

Mgobhozi's legal representative, Faizel Kara, said that because Mgobhozi had six children to provide for, bail should be fixed at a low amount of R1 000.

"His family will suffer if he pays a high amount," said Kara.

Magistrate Logan Naidoo asked Mgobhozi if he, as a state official, realised the seriousness of the charges, at which Mgobhozi nodded.

Naidoo then fixed bail at R3 000 and reminded Mgobhozi that he should not interfere with the state witnesses. Mgobhozi is schedulled to appear in court at the end of September.

Naicker said, "Fighting corruption within the SAPS is one of our priorities.

"We want to send a clear message to the community that corrupt officials have no place in our organisation and every effort will be made to ensure cases of corruption against our members are thoroughly investigated to ensure a successful conviction."

Those who read my letters will remember we have had recent meetings with the SA CAN  team headed by Brian Jones. They have a good message to send out to the community after attending the Action for a Safe South Africa Convention. Thought I would pass it on to all our members. Their strategy is about working together to create a South Africa in which crime does not occur in the first place. The following was what they came away with on their first day at the convention:-

• Crime thrives in societies where families are dysfunctional.
• 47% of homicide victims are drunk.
• 50% of rape victims are drunk or high.
• Prevention is better than cure. We must all do our little bit to create a society in which crime cannot thrive.
• We must work to take the pressure off the judicial system by restoring a culture of lawfulness to our society. This should begin with the small things:
  • Don't  talk on cell phones whilst driving
    Don't drive drunk
  • Don't condone unlawful behaviour in your immediate family
  • Don't do road rage
  • Quit blaming and start doing
  • Know that you CAN make a difference
• Look out for ways that YOU can help build bridges in our community and within our Family:
  • Get to know your neighbours.
  • Take an active interest in the lives of your staff
  • Greet people in our community (see www.sayhello.co.za for other suggestions)
  • Men be warriors by words and respect not knives and guns
• Don't talk about what is wrong with our society. Talk about how we can fix it. What are we going to do?

As you can see we have the same goal. Thanks to SA Can for keeping us informed.

Regards
Tracy

It started with a hue and cry
Why must all these people die?
A march was held and all were one
Time for talking crime was done
Cometh the hour, cometh the cream
In no time at all, we had a great team
All agreed, or so we thought
For a fee, security could be bought
Many joined and made a pledge
Others content to hide in the hedge
It's not about "what's in it for me"
Rather be part of the community
If all join hands and none of us shirk
We will make this great idea work.
 
JOIN UP NOW!!

CCPO SUPPORTER.

Dear Members,

We have four companies to thank this month.

Firstly long overdue thanks go to AESSEAL who sponsored shirts and Jackets for the Operations Managers; these have recently been bought and embroidered by JUST GIRLS in order for the community to be able to identify our operations managers. Thanks to both companies for their ongoing support.

Then once again, Marti Lodetti of M PROJECTS has come through for us and sponsored an office which shall be established at LORDS AND LEGENDS, our thanks go to Bruce Lithgow for organising the premises.  We are very excited to move in to our new premises. The CCPO are hoping that the proposed move will make the CCPO more accessible to our members for paying monthly contributions as well as allowing new members to sign up directly at the office.

Just in case this week's advertisement has you puzzled, we would like to point out that BLUE SECURITY is still our preferred provider. Security International supply the armed guards to the CCPO compliment, they are a subsidiary company of the Mzansi group who have also offered us the use of one of their response vehicles when the need arises. This now means that we not only have our own Operations Managers responding, but also the added response of both Blue Security as well as Mzansi. The CCPO are here for the community, endeavouring to do our best , having all crime fighting bodies working jointly at creating a safer place to live together.

You are a member because you believe in our vision for a safer place to live together.  I was told this week that people do not know what the CCPO do for the community. I can not believe that they never read the local paper, but of course that is the only marketing we really have going for us at this time. Therefore, a marketing drive is essential for us to get our message across.  Yvonne has been out at the robots from 6.30am on alternate days issuing forms trying to drum up more membership. Encourage your friends to return the forms please. Marketing takes money, but we must have members who are able to assist with getting our message across to those who have been sitting on the fence for the last year. I want to start an advertising spot on our website, for all our Businesses on board to advertise their specials or their services. I am currently looking into this. The CCPO are looking at being involved in a proposed big walk which is aimed for the end of October, but more about that at a later date. So if you have any good idea's, are able to advertise for us, are able to give of your time towards marketing, whatever it takes to get the CCPO message out there, I need to know about it, remembering that at this stage we do not have any funds for marketing. We need the Amanzimtoti to all KNOW what the CCPO are all about. After a year there should not be any one amongst our community who does not know who or what the CCPO is, so come on members, put your thinking caps on and see what we can do to promote the CCPO. A while ago we did ask all our businesses to put the CCPO logo on their local adverts, in order to help promote the 'support those that support you campaign'. Please contact me for the logo if you wish to still add it to your adverts. I just had an idea, that perhaps those schools who are members could incorporate the 'CCPO, I'm a member r u on newsletters?

I am playing with an idea and would be grateful to those of you who have benefited from the CCPO to email me your story and the date it happened. One of our members has suggested we try and put out a pamphlet showing all the incidents we have responded to and the thanks felt by those who were involved. If you do this please start a new e mail to me otherwise I land up with the newsletter attached and am constantly forgetting and printing out everything over and over.

Because the CCPO is over a year old, and we have many new members who were not involved from the beginning, we wish to re-iterate the following for their benefit.  Although crime trends have changed and we as the CCPO have to alter our structure and approach to combat the crime, we still have the same aim in mind.

CCPO deploy guards according to the funds received. With regards to the number of guards, this is an ongoing strategy and guards will we deployed in accordance with the crime trends. CCPO is a community initiative which will not discriminate between areas but that will focus its' attention on the areas that need it the most.

It is absolutely imperative not to get the CCPO strategy confused with armed response. The operating security company will not be, replacing your existing reaction company, but rather putting visual security presence on the streets that will serve to support the existing SAPS infrastructure. You would not expect SAPS to respond to alarm activation, neither will the operating security company unless specifically requested in an emergency. I suppose in a nutshell we are not proposing to protect you while in the safe haven of your home, but rather to initially rid our streets, beaches, shopping centres and all public areas of criminals and criminal activity.

This initiative is not designed to replace your existing security measures you pay for at your residence, but more to keep all the residents safer when using the public roads, footpaths, beaches, shopping centres, children walking home from school etc. One thing to remember, you cannot take your armed response company, alarm system and burglar bars with you when you go to the shops, or when your family park and walk to the beach. We are working towards "winning back our streets" as a community and NOT creating yet another response company.

We wish all our crime fighting bodies to get involved with the CCPO and work as a collective group helping each other and the community for a safer place to live together. Remembering that there is "POWER AND RESOURCES IN NUMBERS"

The question was asked whether as an entire street had signed up if they would have a guard 24 hrs? Please bear in mind that one guard costs the CCPO R6300.00per 12 hour shift.  Therefore, your road would need to contribute R12 000 toward the CCPO in order to cover your guard for 24 hours.  And lets assume that everybody did exactly that, we still need to cover costs of the vehicle that is sweeping the areas at night while we sleep in search of suspicious activity, the guards at the traffic lights at peak times averting hi-jackings etc. etc. etc? We wish to point out that this initiative has never been about your street or your house, it is about the public areas that we all use and wining back these areas so that our children can walk home from school, go to the beach, go to the shops, use the CBD again etc. We will and do respond to incidents in the residential areas, seek out and arrest criminals and patrol the residential areas but the core focus of the CCPO initiative is to support the existing SAPS infrastructure by way of visible, proactive policing.

Les and Wayne are employed to see that all guards will meet with the requirements as set out by the Security board and that that security company will only operate within the parameters of the law.

That's all for now folks
Looking forward to hearing from you all.
Regards
Tracy