Below is an email that I received today which (...for me) stokes the embers of Hope for our S.A......
USING THE COLLECTIVE CLOUT OF THE COMMUNITY TO FIGHT CRIME By Charmaine Slater. First published in the Bedfordview and Edenvale NEWS, November 17 Local crime fighters, Specialised Services Group (SSG), joined an elite team dedicated to fighting the illegal poaching of Rhinos. SSG recently joined eBlockwatch’s Dream Team, along with Tracker, with the aim of turning information into intelligence in order to catch the syndicates funding the illegal poaching of Rhinos. The eBlockwatch Dream Team was established to fight poachers and debunk the myths surrounding the use of Rhino horns in medication. “Fighting crime works better as a team and the best way to do this, is to fight crime in small groups,” eBlockwatch founder, Mr Andre Snyman, said. “Rhino poaching is not new but people have become emotional about it. People feel helpless and do not know what to do for these defenseless animals,” he added. Using its 70 000 strong membership, eBlockwatch gathers information on poachers and hands the information to Edenglen resident and SSG executive, Mr Gert Olivier. “SSG has the ability to turn information into evidence using MEMEX. It works similarly to Facebook. When you sign up with Facebook it lets you know that these are your friends and if you know these people you should know those people and when you see them you recognise them and you become friends with them on Facebook. MEMEX uses similar algorithms,” Mr Snyman said. “The dream team is very dynamic. We use the collective clout of the community and it works,” he added. Four suspected rhino poachers were arrested on Friday morning outside Heidelberg by members of the SAPS and the dream team. According to Mr Snyman, the men were pushed off the road while attempting to smuggle a freshly removed rhino horn across two provinces. “The horn could fetch over R2-million on the black market. The four men drove an Audi A4 across the provinces overnight with the rhino horn hidden in a black bag,” Mr Snyman said. The four-kilogramme horn had been chopped off a rhino in Kwa-Zulu- Natal and was destined for Gauteng. A tip-off led members of the police and the anti-poaching dream team to intercept the poachers and push them off the road on the R23, outside Heidelberg. The dream team is headed up by Stroppie, a former member of the Soweto Dog Unit who now works with Tracker. “He is a man who never ceases to amaze me. Very few people would leave home after dinner time to venture out in a rainstorm to assist strangers miles away search for their missing child. “Stroppie has walked after poachers in the middle of the night in the dark without a torch and is the same man who told Rob Matthews that he did not want to go home to sleep when searching for his kidnapped daughter, Leigh Matthews, because it wasted too much time. These are the kind of amazing people we have on the dream team,” Mr Snyman said. He added that when a rhino is reported down, the dream team jumps into action. “We mobilise around 10 000 farmers and their contacts on the ground and before you know it we have an entire community looking for information. We then take that information from the ground and pass it on to SSG, who then come up with several possibilities,” Mr Snyman said. “This partnership is getting results and that is the aim of the dream team. The dream team is giving poachers nightmares at this stage,” he added. Mr Snyman added that he hopes to one day be able to do the same for abused children as what is being done for the rhinos. “I grew up in a small town. And when I came to Johannesburg things were very different. The first time I went to my neighbours and wanted to give them biltong they wanted to know what I wanted. Not quite like the farm life,” Mr Snyman said. “On the farms if you had a problem, like a fire, you would get on the exchanges and ask for someone to help. All the old ladies that were always listening to all the conversations would pick up on this and before you know it you have everyone with a spade or an airplane arriving to help put the fire out,” he added. “And this is where the concept comes from. We have a viral network of people that are willing to jump in and help,” Mr Snyman said. He added that when a tip-off is received, members of the SAPS are mobilised. “They are our heroes, right up front and we do everything possible to help them fight crime,” Mr Snyman said. “We want to have a dream team in every community,” he added. The next project eBlockwatch will be taking on is pairing up townships with neighbouring suburbs such as Alexandra and Sandton. He added that he believes joining forces such as Sandton and Alexandra will go a long way towards fighting crime. “I would also like to see a dream team of security companies to assist when there are problems. Say for instance an elderly woman is in trouble and someone gets a message, we can mobilise the dream team and have 15 cars there to help her,” Mr Snyman said. “When it comes to fighting crime I have never felt support as strong as it is right now,” he added. Residents wanting to sign up to eBlockwatch can simply visit www.eblockwatch.co.za Registration is free. Kind Regards The eblockwatch team -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en.
