Bluewater Bay Surf Lifesaving Club lifeguards and Neighbourhood Watch members may soon have increased powers to hand out fines to perpetrators of unruly behaviour in our suburb and on our beach.
This emerged at a meeting of the two community groups with the MMC Safety and Security, the Metro Police Commissioner and other role players at the Bluewater Bay Surf Lifesaving club on Tuesday evening following the chaos that reigned on the beach last weekend.
Metro Police Commissioner, Andrew Moses, proposed a pilot scheme that will see certain members of the lifesaving club and Neighbourhood Watch undergo a course to qualify as Peace Officers. This will enable them to dish out fines to those that flout municipal bylaws such as no drinking of alcohol in the parking lot or beach or urinating in public. Commissioner Moses would like all to be in place before the Easter weekend in 2024.
Turning to the immediate problem that the lifeguards and some beachgoers experienced on the Bluewater Bay beach last weekend, he said that Metro Police will undertake regular patrols, especially on 26 December and 1 January 2024. Manpower shortages prevented placing an officer on the beach fulltime.
SAPS Swartkops Head of Visible Policing, Captain Madikizela, who could not make the meeting due to work pressure, told the Echo that SAPS would conduct hourly patrols on the beach. He said a register would be left at the beach for the patrol officers to sign to ensure they were doing their rounds.
Bluewater Bay Surf Lifesaving Club Chairman, Eugene van Blerk, welcomed the statements by the Metro Police and SAPS Swartkops. He was particularly excited about Commissioner Moses’s suggestion regarding the Peace Officer training.
“This will help us deal with smaller incidents that arise on the beach, meaning that we will only have to call on the Metro Police for the more difficult situations,” he said.
Van Blerk said the lifeguards would be putting up signage to remind visitors to the beach of various municipal bylaws and the “No Tolerance” approach to unruliness that will be taken. The lifeguards will call the police if these laws are flouted.
CPF Liaison Officer, Jane Jardene said CPF and iPatrol will be on the beach to assist in crime control on 26 December and 1 January.
MMC Safety and Security, Stag Mitchell, planned a further meeting with various role players this morning and the Echo will report back on any information received. `
Freedom Front Plus Bluewater Bay and Swartkops branch chairperson, Lilian Slabbert, who managed to get the big guns to the meeting, promised to take up the matter of the dysfunctional ablution blocks with the municipality, although she doubted that they would be fixed in time for the usual busy Boxing Day crowd.
Comment: The Echo was impressed with Metro Police Commissioner, Andrew Moses. He is a quiet man but has a steely determination to get things right. If the Metro puts further resources into the Metro Police, it would be money well spent. The lifeguards have been totally taken by surprise by the massive influx of visitors to the previously quiet beach. Both the ablution and parking facilities are now woefully inadequate to cater for the number of visitors. The lifeguards, CPF and iPatrol are all volunteers. They give up time with their families over the festive season to keep us safe. They are the true heroes of Bluewater Bay!
