The Despatch police have reported a decrease in all crimes during the past three months.
“We would like to thank the community for their assistance in bringing down the crime rate. However, we still request our residents to be our ears and eyes. If you see any suspicious person, vehicle or activities, please phone the Despatch police immediately,” said Despatch police station commander, Lt. Col. Vivian Tembani.
According to police spokesperson, W.O. Marianette Olivier, two house robberies were reported last week in Windsor Park.
“The suspects loaded the furniture into their vehicles and drove off. We therefore encourage residents to be our ears and eyes and phone the police if you see suspicious activities in your area,” said W.O. Olivier.
The Despatch police can be contacted on 041 933 8822/30/31 or the toll-free number 10111.

Despatch enjoys a sense of community spirit quite unknown in other parts of the erea. Many people are willing to give up their time and comfort in order to patrol the streets, day and night.
Maybe you are a little hesitant to become involved, not knowing exactly what is expected of you. If so then contact one of the officers below and he will inform you regarding this community based project.
For further information contact W.O .Arthur Wolke, the Community Policing Officer at 0082 301 7958 or Shaun Baumeister, Chairperson of Sector 2 at 0082 887 1310

Parking bays marked for disabled motorists are increasingly abused in Despatch and Uitenhage by “normal” motorists.
If you don’t possess a disability permit, even if you are a quadriplegic, you will be ticketed for using a bay for a disabled motorist. A fine is R300.
Mrs Pat Unsworth, well-known traffic department peace officer working with the disabled, was assaulted last week for ticketing a woman who unlawfully parked at a parking bay for disabled at the Levyvale shopping centre.
“The woman gave me a huge smack on my hand as I was trying to get the ticket written. I fined her for parking without a permit on a bay marked for disabled motorists.
“She was screaming and yelling at me and she’s definitely not disabled - neither is her son who got out of the bakkie,” said Mrs Unsworth.
Two police vehicles arrived on the scene to come to Unsworth’s assistance.
According to her the police told the woman to “not assault anyone and if you think you’ve been wrongfully ticketed without due reason, take it up with the public prosecuter or the traffic department. Do not assault the officers doing their job.”
Unsworth said the biggest problem is at the parking bays for disabled at the Penford shopping centre and at the Checkers shopping centre in Despatch where there is only one bay marked for disabled motorists.
“People have stacks of attitude. If they want to park there they will park there. Most of them say, well, go ahead if you want to fine me I’m OK,#expletive removed# r the disabled. I don’t care. A lot of the people are repeated offenders. I ticketed a woman at Penford shopping centre and when I went to Levyvale, I fined her again. She did the same thing there. R600 in one day! Don’t tell me she did not know. I don’t provoke anyone. We’ve been trained not to respond, not to get involved in an argument, not to swear back. If anybody wants to smack you, stand back and allow them the time to calm down,” said Unsworth.
Who may park at a parking bay for disabled? Anybody with a disability permit. It can be obtained from the Association for Persons With Disability in North End, Port Elizabeth.
An appointment has to be made telephonically whereafter you have to submitt your application and present yourself at the assessment. If you qualify for a permit it will cost you R90 for the disc and R25 (R115) for the paper work done.
Unsworth does a lot of voluntary work for the community. She was the Community Policing Forum chairlady for many years and still serves on the executive committee. She also is involved with the Uitenhage Housewives League and local SPCA.

Uitenhage and Kamesh police are concerned regarding the number of motor vehicles that are being stolen from their policing precinct.

In Kamesh it has been noticed that older models of cars and bakkies are stolen. The common models are Izuzu LDVs, Mazda 323 and the old Ford Meteors.

“In most of the cases, vehicles are stolen from the premises of the owners. Police have established that even though car owners have garages, they do not bother to park their cars in the garages before retiring for the night,” said police spokesperson, Lt.Col. Priscilla Naidu.

In many cases, cars are parked in front of the garages. Vehicles are parked also outside the premises and on the pavements. Those vehicles that are stolen from inside the premises, are taken from the driveways and in front of the garages.

“Even though police have made arrests and recovered some of the stolen vehicles, the increase in this type of crime is continuing. Police are urging the public to take responsibility of their possessions and to take the necessary precautions in safeguarding their property and assets.

“During night patrols, police have on numerous occasions left warning notes on the windscreens of motor vehicles for the car owner to take note. Valuable property is left, clearly visible on the back seat of vehicles. This attracts the attention of any opportunistic person,” said Lt.Col. Naidu.

The public are also warned not to park their vehicles in an isolated parking area in shopping centres or other public places. Park as close to the other vehicles as possible. Many centres have car guards. Make use of them.

If there are no car guards in that particular area, rather park as close to your venue as possible.

Car guards sometimes only guard a specific area in a parkade and do not bother to concentrate on unguarded parking areas. Criminals sometime are aware of this and use this to their advantage.

An urgent appeal is made to the community to work together with the police and to help them prevent crime escalating in their neighbourhood.