In early 2020, KSSI was established as a forum by various Neighbourhood Watches, Homeowners Associations, Allsound Security, and other bodies with crime prevention interests, in Greater Knysna (including Sedgefield). The purpose of the forum was to;
- Come together and regularly share information regarding criminal activity in each member’s own direct area, and thereby develop appropriate prevention strategies as well as support each other when called for. The thinking was that we face common challenges and often common perpetrators and that by comparing notes we could be better informed and better prepared in our individual efforts in safety and security. This useful communication platform is an ongoing feature. The various member bodies continue with their individual daily roles in their own areas, while at the same time pooling together by participating in KSSI.
- Provide logistical and material support to our local crime-fighting agencies (SAPS, private security companies, SanParks, municipality etc), where this may be appropriate and feasible. The logic behind this objective was, as a collective, to explore the possibility of providing material support to our local safety and security role players where their current resources are inadequate, or beyond their reach. For example, it had long been a common cause among individual members of our platform that a thermal imaging drone would be a very usefully tool in security operations. Crime-fighting across the world requires ever greater resources and funding so it is obvious that in order to become more effective in combatting crime, the greater the resources at hand, the better the result that can be expected. In South Africa, we have added funding challenges in this regard. So, it was accepted as a given that if we want to see significant improvement in safety and security operations in and around Knysna, we should be prepared to take this support role ourselves. If we wait for officialdom to come to the party, we are not likely to ever see it happen.
It is a goal to continually expand the membership of this platform to include all formal safety and security members around greater the Knynsa area and to assist in developing better security participation in our poorer areas.
From the start, the forum very quickly proved its worth and it immediately became clear that by combining our efforts, we could do far more than anyone entity could do on its own. Thus, the forum was formalised into the Knysna Safety & Security Initiative (KSSI) in mid-2020, with early engagement with The Knysna Community Policing Forum (CPF), Knysna SAPS and Knysna Municipality. The active founding NHW’s, HOA’s etc all continue their day-to-day security work as before, thus KSSI is a separate entity and is not superior to any member in this regard.
As we were all bound by Covid lockdown level 5 protocols, regular initial meetings were held virtually and information was shared regarding both security matters and the Covid 19 pandemic. CPF + SAPS as well as Allsound (a founding member of KSSI) kept us appraised of criminal activity, and a medical professional kindly gave (and still continues to do so) of his time to help us understand the developing picture with regard to Covid. Through this effort, we were able to impart important advice to our member bodies to pass on to their own member citizens.
The group quickly developed a broader view of how we can make a difference. With a thermal imaging drone as the first objective, the founding groups from all across Knysna raised funds to kick start the KSSI financial platform to take on this challenge. Following thorough research by our well-qualified drone lead member, and a significant sponsorship contribution from Kloppers in Knysna, we purchased our first asset, (the “CyKlopps”) DJI Enterprise Dual thermal-imaging drone, in Sept 2020.
The unit was lodged with Allsound Security who are instrumental members of our platform. Allsound was tasked with training key personnel (at their own cost – a costly and time-consuming challenge on its own) and managing deployment protocols while keeping our crucial partners in SAPS abreast of developments and deployment. An important basic principle behind this tool is that it must be equally available to all crime-fighting safety and security organisations across Greater Knysna, regardless of whether they are current KSSI members or not (including private security companies other than Allsound). Beyond that, it is left to Allsound to manage deployment logistics, within set principles from the KSSI executive committee.
A number of successes have been recorded to date, with more dramatic recent incidents reported in the local press which catapulted KSSI’s drone into the public eye (see 2 Knysna Plett Herald articles attached). Aerial thermal imaging technology for safety and security is being employed more and more all around the world, and it is now proving to be as valuable in Knysna as we always believed it would.
Given the KSSI’s basic objective (to identify and provide the resources needed to prevent and fight crime as and where we can), a second opportunity soon arose. Knysna was in need of some key specialist vehicle identification camera technology that is integrated into an interprovincial network, working hand in hand with specialist SAPS teams. We were able to finance 2 important additions to “our” Knysna arsenal (locations of these cameras are kept confidential for obvious reasons) and are happy to report it started to pay dividends right from the start. Our continually expanding network of LPRs has contributed to a number of arrests, and equally importantly, a number of additional criminal incidents have been prevented through the proactive use of this tool. We incur monthly monitoring costs on this facility, partly funded from our central funds, combined with kind ongoing private sponsorship.
The next challenge at hand was to ensure the continuation of the Knysna CCTV Project – a network of crime-fighting cameras in our CBD which has in the past played a vital role in protecting both local citizens and visitors to our town. Given the overlap between the CCTV Projects’ objectives and those of the KSSI, it made sense to incorporate the two entities into one, to enhance efficiency and reduce costs. As a result, the Knysna CCTV Project has been integrated into the KSSI and will in the future be run as a sub-division of KSSI. Current infrastructure has already been significantly expanded in conjunction with kind private sponsorships. In addition, a long-term forward-looking plan is being developed to further expand this critical network in order to contribute to the greater security vision for Knysna. More individual private role players in our town are encouraged to get involved as this project in particular requires both new capital infrastructure and funding of ongoing operating overheads. This aspect of security is considered vital for the future of our town.
At this time, we have 26 CCTV Project cameras and 3 LPRs in and around central Knysna, with additional coverage in the Industrial Area + residential suburbs, funded by residents and business owners. It is our ambition to expand this safety and security network significantly into the future, including assisting our less advantaged areas.
It goes without saying that FUNDING for these objectives is crucial. This brings us back to our underlying premise; if we all sit around waiting for someone else to provide what we all know is needed, nothing is ever likely to happen. Accordingly, if we wish to realise our vision, we need to be prepared to get involved and contribute individually, to the costs ourselves. Some of us of course have more resources than others, but we would appeal to all those that can afford them, to contribute to our cause. Together we can make a huge difference – we need to pool our resources and work together to make Knysna safer in the future.
On the personnel front, we currently have a five-person central working committee, all giving their time free of charge to drive the KSSI machine. These members come from founding members all across Knysna and are all already heavily involved with security in various roles. Ray Ferguson (PHCA Owls) and Tony Rischbieter (Brenton NHW) are installed as co Chairpersons. Declan Nurse (Allsound) heads up Operations and Chris Gould (Heads NHW) and Richard Thorpe (Hunters Home, Rexford and Fisherhaven NHW) make up the rest of the executive team, each with their own special skills. We would welcome any additional members on board if you have any special skills that would add to our team.
While we have already achieved significant successes, there is still so much more to be done. We would like to call on your support to enhance safety and security in the Greater Knysna area.