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This isn’t the usual column I write featuring our lovely Garden Route places and happy people — a lifestyle which is supposed to be safe and peaceful here in Knysna.
I was recently mugged in broad daylight in Main Road coming out of the pharmacy.
A man snatched a gold chain off my neck, so fast and so professionally that I hardly felt the one perfect yank it took him to get it.
My first response was to chase him, but obviously I had no chance of catching him.
Shock and disbelief quickly set in.
This chain belonged to my mother and had great sentimental value and the opal pendant on it was very special to me.
When I think of this whole business, it makes me really sad, not only because my necklace has gone forever, but this wretched person has also destroyed my peace of mind.
These days I find myself looking for shadows behind me, I clutch my bag really tight, see skelms everywhere and generally feel vulnerable.
I worry about my phone being snatched with hundreds of not-backed up contact details.
I worry that if my purse goes, with it will go my ID and driver’s licence.
I had a warning last year when I was enjoying an exercise walk from our home up the hill with beautiful views from Knysna Heights of the estuary and The Heads.
A person asked me for water and I was so gullible and naive and gave him my bottle of water. Then I heard him saying; “nice lady, nice lady, now I want your necklace,” and he lunged at me.
I was lucky that a vehicle was coming down the hill and the driver rescued me.
I stopped walking that deserted route alone even though it was one of my favourites and ditched earphones and all possessions when I exercised.
But now I am finally done with jogging alone.
So I’ve done what I said I never would do on the Garden Route and that’s join a gym to look at a brick wall when I run instead of our scenic estuary.
I have also abandoned the trail along the water and Costa Sarda I used to run alone.
A few weeks ago, an elderly woman was mugged here by a woman with a knife of all things!
One of the elderly sailors from the Knysna Yacht Club was recently mugged and hurt near the Waterfront.
These incidents are becoming more commonplace.
See the big issue here is we came to Knysna from KwaZulu-Natal to be safe.
We came here to enjoy the natural beauty without having to watch our backs.
Now it all feels very disappointing because like probably most places in the world there is now this sort of petty (or not so petty) crime in Knysna.
None of this is good, but on the positive side the guy who attacked me was caught on security cameras and arrested later that night — kudos to the Knysna police and to our local heroes, Allsound Security, who put in the time and effort to look at camera footage and work with the police.
A criminal case was opened, bail denied and he is still in jail.
It’s time to face the reality of living here. Nowadays, if you leave valuables in plain sight in your car you are taking a chance and the same goes for valuables at home like a cellphone lying on a patio table.
In the last couple of years our barbecue was taken over the fence once and a friend’s GPS device swiped off his dashboard while the vehicle was parked on the pavement.
Petty and opportunistic crime has increased in Knysna in the past 30 years since Allsound Security installed the first alarm system.
Robberies (when there is a physical threat) are still reasonably infrequent, Allsound says.
Burglaries (business and residential), on the other hand (which is when a break-in happens and there is no threat or physical confrontation), are now common in Knysna, as are bag-snatching, pickpocketing and theft from motor vehicles.
By far the biggest security giant in the area, Allsound was a family business started in 1993 by resident Andy Stunden.
In those days, crime was slowly creeping into the area due to the high number of holiday houses which were easy targets as they were empty for periods during the year.
The firm was started with one motorcycle and one vehicle, one sales person, one control room operator.
Stunden installed the security systems in homes and his son, Colin, was in charge of the armed response, which he did on his motorbike.
When Allsound started operating, it was at a time when many homes here didn’t have fences or burglar bars and hardly anybody had security systems.
Over the years, demand for security has grown enormously.
Allsound Security now employs 39 response officers, of whom 12 are on shift at any given time, and more than 250 stationary security officers are positioned at retail, estate and business premises.
Back in the office, they employ 16 people in the control room, 18 technical sales and support staff and a further 20 administrative support staff.
Their 13 response vehicles with distinctive branding can be seen roaming Knysna day and night as they patrol 12,000km a week around this area.
There are now 800 CCTV cameras in the town — many of which are monitored via artificial intelligence software in the control room while others are monitored live.
Director Declan Nurse says these CCTV cameras have become an integral tool in fighting crime.
Not only are they a deterrent, but criminals who get identified on camera invariably get their day in court as they have been caught red-handed.
Many of the Allsound security officers have been at it for more than a decade.
Locals know them and the officers know not only the locals, but also the criminals, from the regular recidivists to new syndicates coming into town.
“We respond to many incidents of crime every week,” Nurse said.
“It would be unrealistic to expect that every incident responded to results in apprehension, but it’s a great feeling when criminals are caught and you have a sense of contributing towards a safer Knysna.
“We look at these ‘solid’ arrests as a golden opportunity to see justice served and maybe even prevent someone else from being the next victim.”
He encourages people to lay criminal complaints as this is the only way to stamp out crime.
“With overburdened courts and delays, it can be tedious, but it’s important in the fight against crime that criminals are convicted and punished.”
These Allsound Security guys are real champions in keeping the community safe and while it would be preferable to not need a security company in our lives, it’s the price we pay for peace of mind.
The Herald
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