VREDEHOEK. – While residents of Vredehoek and Devil's Peak decide on a new, formally funded security model for the area, neighbourhood watch DPVWatch Vredehoek's own future is now also on the table. What happens in the meantime with the neighbourhood watch on which the community has relied for years?
Nuusflits reported earlier on the proposed Vredehoek City Improvement District (CID), which will fund 24-hour vehicle patrols, camera monitoring, a central control room and a dedicated City of Cape Town law enforcement officer, among other things.
Read also: Vredehoek CID proposal heads to first public meeting on 24 June
Even if the CID receives sufficient support and is ultimately approved, it will not be operational from the next day.
DPVWatch will thus still have to function during the transition period, precisely at a stage when the volunteer organisation itself needs more active members and financial support.
What happens to DPVWatch Vredehoek after the CID?
The future role of DPVWatch has already been discussed at the organisation's most recent EXCO meeting and will be put to members at the general annual meeting (AGM) on 21 October.
Riaan Ackermann of the DPVWatch EXCO told Nuusflits that members should ultimately decide themselves what should become of the organisation if the CID is approved and becomes operational.
Various possibilities are on the table. DPVWatch can continue as a neighbourhood watch, take on a more limited or advisory role, provide community oversight of the new structure and share its local knowledge and information with the CID.
The organisation can also ultimately dissolve if its members decide that is the appropriate way forward.
According to Ackermann, there are already other CID areas where neighbourhood watches continue to function alongside the CID. The establishment of a CID therefore does not necessarily mean the end of DPVWatch.
More than three thousand five hundred members, but fewer active volunteers
DPVWatch has, according to Ackermann, a community of just over three thousand five hundred members in Devil's Peak and Vredehoek. This does not mean, however, that thousands of residents actively patrol.
The number of members who regularly work as volunteers and conduct patrols is considerably smaller. The organisation did not want to provide a precise figure before the number was verified.
DPVWatch currently describes its two most pressing needs as more volunteers and sustained financial support from the community.
"DPVWatch remains a volunteer organisation. Our EXCO members, patrollers and other volunteers give their own time to support community safety," Ackermann said.
According to him, a larger volunteer base and a broader EXCO would strengthen the organisation. The neighbourhood watch relies largely on community contributions and that income varies, which means that fundraising remains an important part of planning.
Body cameras draw attention
One of DPVWatch's current fundraising projects is body cameras for patrollers.
The organisation says these cameras can help accurately record incidents while at the same time providing an extra layer of accountability and protection to both patrollers and members of the public.
The decision follows a city-wide neighbourhood watch information session where former JP Smith discussed, among other things, the City's investment in technology and an increasingly information-driven approach to community safety.
Nuusflits asked DPVWatch how many body cameras it wanted to purchase, what the estimated costs are and how many regular patrollers are currently available. The organisation indicated that these details would be verified before being provided.
Who stays after the AGM?
Another important question is who will lead the organisation after the annual meeting.
DPVWatch has not yet confirmed which current EXCO members plan to make themselves available again. Ackermann said they would rather first confirm the individual members' intentions before speculating about it.
The AGM is held on 21 October and the future role of DPVWatch will be part of that discussion.
Read also: Residents raise alarm over deteriorating roads in Cape Town's City Bowl
'Community safety cannot be put on ice'
The possible CID, meanwhile, changes nothing about DPVWatch's immediate responsibility. Ackermann stressed that there will likely be a transition period, even if the CID is approved.
"Community safety cannot simply be put on ice while another structure is being established," he said.
Until a CID is approved, established and fully operational, DPVWatch will, according to him, continue in its current capacity. Only thereafter will members have to decide whether the organisation continues as before, takes on a new role alongside the CID or ultimately scales down its operations.
For residents, the debate is therefore bigger than merely a choice between a CID and a neighbourhood watch.
The immediate challenge is to keep the existing volunteer safety structure strong enough to function during the transition period, while at the same time deciding what community safety in Vredehoek and Devil's Peak should look like in the longer term.
This article is an automatic English translation of a Nuusflits article originally published in Afrikaans. Read the Afrikaans original.
