Watchful eyes of ‘Dung Beetles’ help put Gqeberha criminals behind bars

On Friday morning, the screens in the office of CityWide Security director Stephen Moore’s office flicker with images of another success: police and security officers working in sync to apprehend suspects after an attempted housebreaking in Westering, a suburb of Gqeberha.

It’s not just house alarms that get monitored here, but also high-definition surveillance cameras, social networks and WhatsApp group chats. Voice notes from law enforcement and security officers, as well as alerts from licence plate recognition systems, flash across a big screen. Every step in the takedown is recorded.

This impressive partnership has been making strides in removing criminals from Gqeberha’s streets.

“Also,” laughed Moore, “I think people should know that we can see if they have sex on the beach.”

Recently, the team tracked and arrested a suspect within minutes of a murder in Central. Last year, they arrested the members of a syndicate stealing motorcycles.

“But it all starts with the ‘Dung Beetles’,” said Moore. “That’s what I call my staff who monitor the feeds and cameras. I call them that because they look for shit all the time.”

CityWide Security monitors cameras along the beachfront and in Central for the Mandela Bay Development Agency, the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber, the Summerstrand Neighbourhood Watch and the Central Special Rating Area. It also works closely with the police, especially the K9 unit.

“You absolutely need these public-private partnerships to make it work,”  said Moore.

Vehicle break-ins

In recent months, theft from motor vehicles was a big problem in the seaside suburb of Summerstrand.

“Let me start by saying that break-ins in motor vehicles, half of the time, are caused by stupidity,” said Moore. “The thieves sit there and watch how people put their laptops in the boot. Don’t do it. If you have a laptop, take it with you.”

Moore said the cameras monitoring Summerstrand had captured footage of the break-ins, but they wanted to catch the suspects red-handed to make sure that the National Prosecuting Authority would prosecute.

They first monitored a suspect who was breaking into cars at King’s Beach, Barney’s and Lovers’ Lane.

“We were tracking his vehicle. He left the area like a bat out of hell.”

When the break-ins began again, they received information that a 3-tonne truck was at each scene. Moore’s team tracked the vehicle to a parking lot.

Police officers, some off-duty, watched from across the road as the driver of the truck broke into a car and drove off.

“As he stopped at that robot, we pounced,” said Moore.

Since the arrest, theft from motor vehicles in the area has dropped dramatically. “The suspect had prior convictions for this crime,” said Moore.

“The success of this operation highlights how far we’ve come in using technology to fight crime. Our licence plate identification cameras and PTZ [pan-tilt-zoom] surveillance systems proved instrumental in identifying and tracking the suspect’s movements.

“Behind the scenes, the tireless work of CityWide’s monitoring room personnel ensured that no detail went unnoticed.”

Before this arrest, his team apprehended card scammers extorting thousands of rands from tourists.

“This lot liked BMWs and they had fake number plates that were the same as those of vehicles on the showroom floor of a car dealership,” he said.

“We had to chase them all the way to North End. The head of that syndicate, we later learned, was murdered in Cape Town.”

‘Incredible support’

Tati Tsunke, the chairperson of the Business Chamber’s Beachfront Cluster, said the cluster had invested R650,000 in advanced security equipment.

“A massive well done goes out to Warrant Officer [Mornay] van der Berg and his team at the South African Police Service, along with the incredible support from CityWide, the Summerstrand Neighbourhood Watch and other security companies in the city, whose collaboration played a pivotal role in tracking down the suspect,” said Tsunke.

“This operation is not just a win for law enforcement — it’s a win for the beachfront area. It is a reminder of what can be achieved when teams come together to make our streets safer.

“We believe that the cameras which the Beachfront Cluster has installed, as well as those that have been rolled out in our other clusters, will help improve visibility and response from the SAPS and the private security companies, while also helping to deter crime from taking place.”

Denise van Huyssteen, the CEO of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber, said: “We want to help SAPS to have access and full visibility to hotspot crime areas and to support their efforts to radically reduce crime.”

Read more: Nelson Mandela Bay is the most ‘fixable’ metro in SA

Colonel Connie van Niekerk, the head of the SAPS district operational command centre, said they were grateful for the support.

“These resources will allow us to plug into a broader network of crime intelligence and respond more effectively. It’s encouraging to see the private sector actively supporting public safety,” she said. DM