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Tuesday 22 March 2011
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Alarm over Noordhoek Beach attacks DALEEN FOUCHÉ
S
afety at Noordhoek Beach and the surrounding wetlands is again in the spotlight after two armed attacks on beach users last week. Noordhoek Beach and the wetlands were plagued by crime from 2000 to 2004, but this tapered off after several suspects were arrested. The crime trend seemed to flare up again in 2010, following two knife attacks on Noordhoek Beach (“Noordhoek residents warned not to venture alone”, People’s Post, 9 November 2010). The first attack last week took place on Wednesday 16 March at 16:30, when a young man taking photos on the beach was attacked by two knife-wielding suspects aged between 20 and 30. They stole his camera, Blackberry phone and other possessions worth R20 000. The following day at 17:00, two women were riding their horses in the wetlands adjoining the beach when they were attacked by a man also brandishing a knife. One woman immediately chased away on her horse in an attempt to get help. The other woman was pulled off her horse. Leon Halliday, owner of Lake Security, says the suspects were waiting for the rider from an elevated position and “dived” her from her horse. One of the suspects took all her jewellery, including a watch. The woman managed to break away from her attacker and ran away on foot. No arrests have been made. Halliday says he is aware of at least four attacks in the area since
2010. He says that police should monitor the drug problem more closely to put a stop to crime. He says people who have been attacked on the beach and surrounding wetlands have described the suspects as being under the influence of drugs. Warrant Officer Chris Cloete, spokesperson for Fish Hoek police, says these attacks are “extremely worrisome”. He says the Noordhoek Beach and the surrounding wetlands are very difficult to patrol. Although Fish Hoek police received a quad bike after the attacks to patrol the area in 2004, Cloete says that using the bike on Noordhoek Beach is a sensitive issue because it is a protected area. Cloete told People’s Post that they would decide at a meeting today (Tuesday) whether they would use the bike to patrol the beach, but adds that the Fish Hoek police would also increase their patrols on the beach. Cloete says that the Noordhoek Beach and surrounding wetlands suffered a spate of armed attacksfrom 2000 to 2004. At the time, Table Mountain National Park, the Fish Hoek police and Louis Liebenberg, co-founder and managing director of CyberTracker and the author of several books on the art of tracking, worked together to combat the crimes. Liebenberg, along with a master tracker, uncovered the hiding places of the suspects and prepared a trap. While members of the police, Liebenberg and TMNP rangers were surveying the scene from a vantage point, a plain-clothes policeman pretended to be a beachgoer. The suspects attacked him with a knife, and he was “forced” to
COLOUR EXPLOSION: The “Dream the future” theme for this year’s Cape Town Carnival came alive in spectacu lar colour in Long Street in the CBD on Saturday. The carnival parade was arranged into a series of pods, with each of the 10 pods consisting of a float, six costumed lead performers and 200 costumed performers. Photo: Jaco Marais
shoot the suspects. Both suspects were injured. Liebenberg says that this was only one of many successful arrests made with the help of tracking methods. Liebenberg has been tracking and mapping the paths and hiding places that criminals use, on the CyberTracker software he developed, along with an American programmer. Cyber Tracker can be downloaded to a smart phone and used to collect and capture data, gained through tracking and used to map out the data. It can be used in crime research, farming, forestry, disaster relief and for managing game farms and other natural areas. Liebenberg says the only way to catch criminals operating on Noordhoek Beach and in the wetlands is through stealth and tracking, because of the density of the bushes, the many possible hiding places and the vastness of the area. “Tracking is not just following footprints, but one can read into the
context of the situation,” says Liebenberg. He claims he can tell a hiker’s footprint apart from that of a criminal by evaluating the pace of movement and by examining the shoeprint to differentiate between the tracks of victims and criminals on a crime scene. Liebenberg found out about Thursday’s attack the very next day and went to the scene of the crime to examine the tracks. However, it was too late because the wind had blown away most of the tracks at the scene, he says. Liebenberg has submitted a proposal to TMNP to train rangers to become trackers. He says rangers are “supposed” to be synonymous with tracking, but adds that “unfortunately”, very few rangers are trained in the art of tracking. He says TMNP rangers have not been patrolling the Noordhoek Beach as much as they should, and attributes this to staff shortages. But Merle Collins, spokesperson for TMNP, says their rangers patrol
the beach on a regular basis, but would not comment further on the matter. Collins says she cannot comment on the crime incidents as a first meeting of a joint task team decided on Thursday that statements on crime must be made by the police until the task team has appointed a spokesperson. The task team consists of TMNP, the police, civil society and all parties who have an interest in TMNP activities. She says safety is one of the main items on the new task team’s agenda. Collins says that Liebenberg’s contribution will be welcomed, but adds that he needs to join the task team to make a contribution. The task team will meet twice a month. People’s Post asked Collins if Fish Hoek police can use a quad bike on the beach to patrol the area and whether rangers are trained in tracking, but Collins could not answer the questions before going to print.
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