Tuesday 21st October 2010
Rusty damp reported that in general those victims who had been contacted were satisfied with the response and efficiency of the Westville SAPS. Colonel Ellen Emmanuel advised that after approaches to the Provincial SAPS Administration we now have a fingerprinting division based in Pinetown. Rusty mentioned that due to delays in the arrival of the fingerprinting team, victims have been cleaning up to reinstate security e.g. replacing broken windows etc. obviously to avoid exposure to further risk.  It is requested that items such as glasses and any assets that have been moved by the suspects should preferably not be touched to enable fingerprints to be taken. Feedback from the floor indicated that it is easy to establish if a security system was on or off at the time of a break-in and if off the insurance companies can reject a claim. This was ratified by others from the floor.

Wednesday 14th. October 2009
I successfully phoned 10 victims of crime at random, (9 House break-ins and 1 carjacking), during the above period all of whom live in various areas of Westville
Their reaction to the police attention to their crimes was good, in 8 instances the police were on the scene within 30 minutes of their call, one incident was reported directly to the Westville Police station and in one incidence it took an hour for the police to arrive. Lack of transport and excess of crime was blamed for this tardiness.

We are still encountering fingerprint squad problems in attending crime scenes. The normal 24 hour delay is problematic particularly in wet weather but in some cases no visit was experienced. the fingerprinting is possibly the most important weapon against crime detection and it is certainly not being given sufficient attention.

It would appear that there in an "professional" gang of Housebreakers operating in the Westville area, wall safes are being targeted. These safes are often hidden away in obscure rooms and yet they are being found without any other rooms in the house being disturbed or other property taken. It is suspected by the owners that Domestic servants are tipping off the gang, even the means of entry are similar. The safes are being forced open and mainly jewelry taken, but a gun has been stolen from one of these safes recently. The police might well look into the Domestic theory more carefully. 

Rusty Damp