Crime-fighting in Stellenbosch recently received a few more eyes and ears with Community Wolf and the town’s Red Bibs.
The Red Bibs are parking attendants, predominantly from Khayamandi, who volunteer their time on evenings and weekends in the Stellenbosch central business district. These 34 men are part of the programme implemented by the Winelands Safety Initiative (WSI).
The group received new bibs and beanies last Friday (27 June).
According to WSI director André Pelser the volunteers only work for tips. “Their commitment to help be eyes and ears within the town area – not even where they live – is wonderful. And now with this new tool from Community Wolf, their work is an even greater asset for Stellenbosch,” Pelser says.
Along with their new gear, the volunteers also received data vouchers to ensure they can communicate via the Community Wolf app, a WhatsApp-based crime reporting tool used to track and map hotspots in real time.
Dr Greta Groeneveld, director of research of Community Wolf, says the Red Bibs, and other locals, can now report any crime related incidences to the Whatsapp channel which will alert other users of trouble. “Through the crime mapping taking place, we can start to see patterns and discover the crime hotspot areas,” she relates.
“The Red Bibs are out on the streets every day and know exactly what is going on in town. Users can send a text message, voice note or an image to share information.
“The more users report the same incident, the better as you then have a verification process.”
Although incident reports don’t go to the police at the moment, Groeneveld says the hope is to ultimately share the tips with law enforcement officials, who can then react to incidents instead of users simply avoiding hotspot areas as is now the case.
“You can also share information with the app and prompt it to contact your friends and family after a certain time. If you go for a hike and tell Community Wolf you expect to be done within an hour but don’t check back in within the allotted time, your parents can receive a notification and follow up.”
Groeneveld says the more locals use the app, the more efficient and useful it becomes, which is why the volunteers will have the channel installed on their cellphones to help report crime.
Stellenbosch executive mayor Jeremy Fasser and municipal manager Geraldine Mettler were on hand to help handover the bibs and beanies to the men helping to keep the CBD a little safer.
Pelser championed the project from the start. He is also chairperson of the Stellenbosch Community Police Forum and coordinator of the Eyes and Ears (E2) initiative, a partnership between police, private security and civil society in the Cape Winelands.
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