Crime down, but now complacency rears head

CRIME is down in Observatory, says Ursula van Stavel, Observatory Improvement District’s (OBSID’s) COO, but she warns that complacency has taken hold among residents and is threatening the survival of community-driven safety initiatives. 
Ursula said perceptions are that crime is decreasing, but added that she was still awaiting the latest official statistics from the Woodstock police to confirm. 
It is clear, though, that Observatory is still the highest contributor to crime in the Woodstock precinct, mostly because of the high volumes of theft out of motor vehicles. This happens mainly when objects are left visible in cars.
Ursula believes that an unfortunate spin off of the lower general crime levels is complacency among residents. 
This has had a devastating effect on community-driven safety initiatives, such as the Observatory Neighbourhood Watch (ONW). 
She constantly tries to recruit members to the ONW and makes an urgent call on the community to sign up. 
Ursula said crime in Observatory tends to come in waves, and the latest is a spate of house-breaking in the past month.    
She says that most of the criminals are young males from Salt River and are often addicted to drugs.  
The Observatory Public Safety (OPS) patrols have identified the Shelley Road soccer field as an escape route for criminals, because of a broken fence that leads onto Robins Road. Ursula has approached Brett Herron, Ward 57 Councillor, about the possibility to have access closed off at night.
Because night-time crime tends to increase during summer, the OBSID plans to strengthen its night-time patrols.
 The OBSID’s public safety function will be strengthened by three recruits from the Chrysalis Academy, which rehabilitates young adults who are at risk of falling into a life of crime. 
Ursula says Chrysalis runs a highly successful programme in training youngsters to turn their lives around. The three interns will join the patrols in November.
The OBSID’s daily routine is to meet with the OPS to discuss the previous night’s incidents, and identifying the crime hotspots. This information is then used to work out where the patrols should be concentrated and where the mobile patrolling station should be placed. 
Commenting on the patrollers recent brave pursuit of armed robbers, Ursula said that yet again they have performed beyond the call of duty and that they are “totally dedicated to their work”. 
Ursula said one of the biggest problems experienced with the OBSID’s public safety project is the language barrier between the control room and callers from the community. Often calls are misunderstood or aren’t conveyed properly to the patrollers, because the centre operator struggles with English. 
Ursula has requested that the security contractor appoints a control-room operator who is fluent in English.