Policing in your communtiy - it is the year of involvement

Okay guys... so now that I'm doing criminology I am making it your responsibility to get involved with community policing...It is not what it sounds like... hear me out!!! No matter where you are in the country (and the rest of the world) you can help!!! As majority of people leave crime setection, prevention and investigation up to the police it is no wonder that many of us simply "fall" victim to crime!!! As many of you know I have been involved in a number of instances involving violent crimes!!! Now lets look after ourselves - trying to prevent ourselves from victimisation and take a step to promote your friends and family to get involved.

For the year i will give you info on what is happening from the brooklyn police station side of community policing... it would be awesome if you could try get involved in your area..

all you have to do is be on the alert... keep your eyes open and your ears to the ground... lets try link police and communities in this country to make a difference... As a criminologist or police official it is a difficult task curbing crime without the help of the public as every crime has three stages 1) preparation of a crime (before), 2) the actual crime (during) and 3) the aftermath (after the crime) - the police usually come in at stage 2 and 3 because of the overload that they experience... however if you see any suspicious activity (it can be anything) take the initiative and the step to find the behaviour unacceptable and report it... lets do this!!!! Yes i said report it... if you are a victim of any crime PLEASE report it... yes the offender may not be convicted BUT the police do coordinate their patrol vehicles and police visibility in terms of the number of reported crimes they have from each specific area!!

Lets help the police do the most vital job in the country... it doesn't mean you have to go fight crime yourself... just be a responsible citizen and keep updated on what is happening in your area!!!

This year in the pretoria region - falling under the Brooklyn precinct my honours class will be involved hands on in helping the police to help the community and helping the community to help the police!!! For anyone living in Pretoria I will keep you informed.. We will be holding self defence classes, crime awareness workshops, meeting with the public and the police to bridge the silence between the two, awareness, advice and self defence classes for domestic workers in your homes... plus many many more things to come...

If you would like to get involved on a more active basis, please email me and I will put you in touch with the right people.. If you have any queries please dont hesitate to ask and we can take it from there.. It would also be fantastic to have you ideas and advice on how and what you think could work in your area or south africa in the area of bridging the gap between the community and the police.. it would be really valuable to have you input!!!

It may also be nice to have an interactive chat about this and your ideas.. please go ahead an comment below (click on comment)...

Hope you are all doing really really well..

Take are Sian

for more info on community policing in Brooklyn precinct area visit http://www.brooklyncpf.co.za/

Holiday 2008/2009

What a great holiday... wow!! Well as usual I spent December in Pennington, with scotties being such an awesome spot I love spending as much time as possible down there.. But this dec had a twist to it....

Pennington/Scottburgh/Durban
We had loads of fun starting off with a girls night to the Maroon 5 and One Republic concert in durbs, then the Princess poker playoffs which was meant to be continued over the whole holiday but we only managed one round coz time seems to go soooo quickly when on holiday.. I personally think everyone was scared I'd win (hey Domi)!! Then the Speak Easy revival party remembering the good times of the old Speak Easy days. Good times.

Christmas was great fun.. My family from Australia were over in SA as well as my Thompson family which I haven't seen for years. We had so much fun, the best Christmas I've ever had or definitely in the top 2!!! We played assassins with water pistols - I got shot twice nice hey... Once by my own mother!! And had team sports obstacle course... My family is mad - officially..

On the 26th was gramps Davy's birthday and a paintball show down which I'm very sure my team won, although everyone (including my team mates) will disagree. Got a nice bruise from Graham (my Aussie uncle) - can't take them aussies anywhere. And Steve arrived in Pennington to meet the rest of the crazies!!

Pennington to Jeffreys bay THE ROAD TRIP... For an indepth discussion of our road trip see Steve's travel diaries (there's a link on this blog)... this is just a "brief" overview... On the 27th - The Road Trip began.. whoop whoop We left Pennington in the pouring rain at the glorious time of 5am or was it 4am... okay it was early!! Stewart (Aussie cuz), Sally (awesome extension of the cousins), Steve (the awesome boyfriend) and I (the great) headed off with a visibility of about 5 metres. We drove through the Transkei which is always a painfully slow drive with loads of crazy drivers EVERYWHERE!! We stopped off to check on my folks place in the metropolis (1 tar road) of Mt Frere and Stew, Sally and Steve met Simba my moms sheep.. who has grown a massive amount but still so cute. We drove through East London and along the coast past Port Alfred, Kenton on Sea etc - definite places for future stop overs!! Through PE and a whopping 14 hours after leaving Pennington we arrived in Jefferys bay... J-bay - We spent 2 nights in /j-bay in a house that the owners rent out... We were a little scared that they would come home at any point coz there was still stuff in the fridge and the dustbin wasn't even emptied... but it was pretty cool having the whole place to ourselves...and bonus - they didn't come home!!! The weather in j-bay was not the best I've ever seen and the waves were not that good - Stew wasn't too impressed although he didn't have his board so it was better that way... We went for a drink at this pub on the main beach - AN EXPERIENCE... I think we were the only English speaking people in the entire place they were speaking some foreign language - some call Afrikaans... i dunno i didn't understand it!!! and the music.. wow!!!

J-bay to Kysna
The 29th we left J-bay and headed for Kysna with a beach stop over in Cape St Francis.. What a stunning place... We sat on the beach for a bit as it was a stunning day bar the gale force winds... and Steve, Sally and I attempted a swim.. FREEZING!! I don't suggest you ever go swimming there... EVER!!! I lasted about 2 seconds in the water... We got to Kysna to find that there was absolutely no accommodation ANYWHERE!!! so we drove around, went to the Kysna heads - stunning, and then went for an early dinner - Pizza at a fantastic restaurant at the Kysna Quays (one of Steve's family friends places) - will find the name and I definitely recommend it to you. I phoned Tammy asking for a place to stay (her folks live in George) and THANK YOU SO MUCH we stayed at Tams folks place for the night!! They are Devine and so hospitable... Thanks again for letting us stay over!!
George to Cape Town
On the 30th we left crack of dawn to head for the city of Cape Town... When we got to Cape Town we picked up Kasey (one of Sally's friends from Aus) and headed towards Melissa, Michelle and Gen (my cape town cousins) place... We invaded there place.. floors, beds... you name it.. 8 of us in their flat... Thank you my cousins.. Cape town is always great... and this time was no different.. WE CLIMBED TABLE MOUNTAIN... never thought id ever do it... voluntarily at least.. but it was well worth it.. tooks us 2.5 hour to get to the top... and then Sally and I braved the cable car on the way down... Stew, Kasey and Steve were in their element taking photos and loving life... Sal and I kept our eyes closed and hung on to the centre pole the whole way... I'd much rather walk...

New Years was in Kirstenbosch gardens.. AMAZING.. Goldfish and Dr Victor and the Rusta Rebbles... A fantastic new years eve..

2009..

On the 2nd Jan Steve and I said goodbye to the troops and headed for another road trip... taking on South Africa one step at a time...

Cape Town to Saldahna
We headed out of Cape Town on territory neithor of us had ever been on... The plan of the trip was to have absolutely no plans what so ever... And off we went.. Through the West Coast National Park and off to Langebaan.. Which is stunning.. Very big on wind surfing, they look like ants, all you see is wind surfers EVERYWHERE... which means funny enough that it is slighlty windy!!! Well we couldnt find accommodation anywhere here.. so we headed out.. and on the way drove past this incredible amazing 2nd best restaurant of the trip.. its called the "Strandloper" and its an open air restaurant right on the beach.. where you have a 12 course seafood meal... they braai the seafood in the middle of the restaurant and you help yourself to whatever you want... We found a spot to stay in Saldhana bay.. nice spot right on the beach and a bit out of Saldahna.. That evening we decided we wanted seafood and nothing was gonna stop us despite evrything being fully booked... so we drove to a little place called Paternoster - very cute.. and ate at a restaurant right on the beach.. literally!!

Saldahna to Springbok
The next day we headed out to discover the west coast of SA.. we drove through ELandsbaai (cool seal colony there) and then to Lamberts bay where we found THE BEST OPEN AIR RESTAURANT IN THE COUNTRY.. Same concept as the one in Langebaan but a whole lot more open and cooler!! Then we headed in land (much to our disappointment of leaving the coast).. We stayed in SPringbok for the night!! Yes you heard correctly... It is a one horse town.. and thats my only comment... hehe!! One more comment - there are no springbok here dont be fooled you'll see absolutely none... ANYWHERE!!

Nababeep to Augrabies Falls
The next day we went to see the town that Steve's dad (Chris) grew up. It's a little town about 10km outside of Springbok called Nababeep.. Although it is now more of a ghost town.. You can see that back in it's mining days it must have been very cute.. and VERY HOT!! After Nababeep we headed off to Augrabie Falls... which is very close to the Namibian border.. BUT FIRST... doof doof doof (drums being banged).. we drove through the infamous POFADDER.. yes we did... in Pofadder Auto they have an oxwagon.. What is interesting though is from Pofadder for 250 km towards Upington is where the German car maufacturers come to test the speed of their cars once a year (usually in Feb).. and when you drive that road you can understand and pretty much visualise the speeds that they must do... Steve and I did not attempt it in my Tazz.. no not at all.. we didnt do it!!!

Augrabies is awesome.. they falls are a site and a half and in the rainy season they must be beautiful.. Steve and I got so excited when we saw white water and stuff they call rapids... We had to do it.. yes white water rafting!! The way forward I tell you.. It's even inspired us to take up rafting in PTA.. we just have to find out where and when etc.. but I'm so keen.. and if they even try make me go into the Jukskei river I will not do it.. I refuse and thats it.. Augrabies area is massive on vineyards.. all around that area.. They mainly produce export grapes and dried fruit (raisons- yuk) but they also have wineries.. So we went to taste the wines.. and they are not that great... but they are the major suppliers of wine to SA... You may have heard the Orange River Wineries... We drove through one farm (on the way to rafting) that is on an island in the middle of the orang river.. (a 12km island).. pretty cool.. the island can pretty much sustain itself.. cows, lucern, vineyards...

Augrabies to Wonderwerk Caves via Upington and Kuruman
After Augrabies we headed through Upington (you have to go to the fruit and veg cty there.. it is out of this world.. we spent an hour in it.. they have a meat section.. bakery.. the works.. its too cool) then to Kuruman to see the Kuruman eye.. It has potential but they really don't do any upkeep on it... which is a pity coz its the only spot with a little water as the whole region is semi desert... We decided to head out of Kuruman to the Wonderwerk caves for the night... The caves are interesting - quite big and they still discovering more and more.. They are closed to the public but we swindled a deal and got a private tour... only coz we were the only people for miles and miles and miles (no jokes).. The caves were inhabited ages ago (like billions of years) by bushman etc... They have bushman paintings in them and are still finding artefacts..

P.S. that section of road from Augrabies to Kuruman is te hottest place iv ever been... we put iceblocks in towels and sat on them... Yes we sat on ice... and it wasnt even cold enough!!!

The home stretch via Boesmans gat
The next day we headed to Boesmans gat which is a nunderground cave where people go cave diving - i must say after seeing it... i would never ever ever do it and Steve agrees... the gat is on a guys farm (lucky oke)... and he has loads of game there.. I think he has the only springbok in the whoel country coz thats literally the only place that we saw springbok. We saw Eland, springbok, Gemsbok, Zebra and other stuff too..

The it was back to Pretoria - a long winded and very very very hot trip...

So thats it for my holidays... What an absolutely incredible one...

Will put a post up about my 2009 plans in the next week..

love lots