River Rat Posted January 25, 2017 Posted January 25, 2017 As many of you know we have had an increase in crime within the Klapperkop reserve and although we, as the community, have in the past been able to curb this to some extent, what we are now facing is beyond the capacity of the community to control. We have have had numerous meetings with the Council of Tshwane and the solution proposed by Metro Police is to control access to the reserve and to provide regular patrols within the reserve, at the same time insure that the fences are maintained at all times. At a recent public meeting with council officials it has become clear that council, due to budget allocations ( read admin problems) are unable to give effect to this proposal. As an interim measure the Friends of Groenkloof Nature Reserve (FGNR) has offered to fund this process on the express undertaking that Nature Conservation do the following:- NC to provide staff (ie. from Groenkloof NR) to man the access control at the two entrances and do active feet patrols of the reserve- NC to inspect and repair the fences every morning- Council to try their best to make sure the R450k as promised by the RED’s is spent on Klapperkop security- NC, as soon as funds are available, improve the fences to provide for additional security. Especially near Fountain Circle.- NC to maintain the Klapperkop MTB trails and build additional MTB trails on Klapperkop What I would like to do is to test your feelings about the implementation of this and in particular the entry process. So, if you are a regular user of the reserve you can expect the following ( I estimate that we're looking at the beginning of March) when you arrive at the reserve.- There will be a boomed gate that will only allow you access in daylight hours. (the intention is to close the reserve after sunset)- You will be required to sign in at the gate ( we are contemplating whether you need to produce some form of ID).- You will be issued with an entry permit that you need to produce when asked to do so and hand it back to the guard at the gate when you leave the reserve. Okay so here are the issues that could affect you1. The reserve is closed at night.2. You have to sign in.3. You may be asked to produce your permit on request. I know there will be many of you that believe this plan is not going far enough but from my point of view it is a start and rest assured we will be asking for more over time. We are also looking at providing annual entry permits for FGNR members but more about this later. So I need your thoughts about this but please don't just shoot it down without offering a solid alternative.
kingalton Posted January 25, 2017 Posted January 25, 2017 Happy if it makes the area safe.. if possible, implement a paid registration system with a permit (arm band or something) to allow access without having to sign in each time...
Scalpel Posted January 25, 2017 Posted January 25, 2017 To sign in every time will be a pain as we often do laps. As kingalton suggests an armband or something will make it easier.
River Rat Posted January 25, 2017 Author Posted January 25, 2017 Happy if it makes the area safe.. if possible, implement a paid registration system with a permit (arm band or something) to allow access without having to sign in each time...The idea is to provide this to FGNR members for a nominal fee with a number that could be used to know who has entered the reserve.
River Rat Posted January 25, 2017 Author Posted January 25, 2017 To sign in every time will be a pain as we often do laps. As kingalton suggests an armband or something will make it easier.This will make it quicker but I suspect that there will be some delay.
Scalpel Posted January 25, 2017 Posted January 25, 2017 If a big group like TBC or Cycle Lab goes through and everyone has to sign in as well as cars waiting to get in to the golf course it will end up in a mess. In my opinion this will not work.
River Rat Posted January 25, 2017 Author Posted January 25, 2017 If a big group like TBC or Cycle Lab goes through and everyone has to sign in as well as cars waiting to get in to the golf course it will end up in a mess. In my opinion this will not work.Can't see cars wanting to go to the golf course being an issue as they generally come from the South Eastern side and don't enter the reserve. There may be a few from the the North West gate (R21) but this will be minimal. As for large groups this will be a problem and I'm not sure how to solve this. I had a chat to the guys from Phobians running club who run there every Wednesday morning in a group of 30 plus. They felt that the delay in stopping at the gate while the guard writes down your permit number is a small price to pay in terms of safety.
Bateleur1 Posted January 25, 2017 Posted January 25, 2017 Not to be the spanner in wheel here but just a question. What is the objective of the access control? For people to pay entry to create an income to pay for the guards? Or to keep the criminals out? For the first option a membership card would be the easiest to improve the time to take to enter the premises. But to keep the bad guys out I think would be challange as I am sure even without the access control, these guys do not enter the park there but rather through the holes they cut in the fence.
River Rat Posted January 25, 2017 Author Posted January 25, 2017 Not to be the spanner in wheel here but just a question. What is the objective of the access control? For people to pay entry to create an income to pay for the guards? Or to keep the criminals out? For the first option a membership card would be the easiest to improve the time to take to enter the premises. But to keep the bad guys out I think would be challange as I am sure even without the access control, these guys do not enter the park there but rather through the holes they cut in the fence.The intention is to keep access free, but if there is enough demand for easier access the idea is to provide for a paid for access card. The income derived fro this would be used to improve the reserve security and improve the facilities. The guards will initially be Nature Conservation staff who will also patrol the reserve and repair fences. When they see a cut fence they would alert Metro that someone has entered the park illegally and a Metro can take action against anyone in the reserve without a valid temporary or annual permit. This has worked in Groenkloof and we have not had any attacks there since mid 2016. So far the suspects that we have caught in the reserve have told us that they are dropped of by taxi either outside the gate or even within the reserve and they use the holes in the fences for a quick getaway. The hole we found two weeks ago when we conducted a raid was made big enough to take a bike through, so clearly these guys are planning ahead.
Bateleur1 Posted January 25, 2017 Posted January 25, 2017 Thanks RiverRat. Although I am not a regulars user of those roads anymore, had I been there my answer would be ... fine with signing in but quickly get a system up with some sort ID/Membership card to allow me to get in quicker. Should I not have it then sign in. I think most would quickly like to get some card so that they can access the park quicker and this would allow you to get an idea of how many people access the park regularly.
bertusras Posted January 25, 2017 Posted January 25, 2017 Better start chasing those KOMs then! https://www.strava.com/segments/2341005 (Will provide a proper reply a bit later!)
River Rat Posted January 25, 2017 Author Posted January 25, 2017 Hello - we have built a system that will be in place in the next few weeks at Jonkershoek, and then at all MTO trails....includes permit purchases and "check-in" functionality - email us if interested to learn more - info@engena.co.zaEmail sent.
River Rat Posted January 25, 2017 Author Posted January 25, 2017 Better start chasing those KOMs then! https://www.strava.com/segments/2341005 (Will provide a proper reply a bit later!)I think you may have just identified the real challenge here .
pellieg Posted January 25, 2017 Posted January 25, 2017 A bar code scanner system , like they have at the Warrior race , so you scan the permit holders and have all their detailsit can aslo scan all drivers licences for non permit holders( people wanting to enter the golf course ect) Its also much easier to track numbers on something that captures automatically.
Spinnekop Posted January 25, 2017 Posted January 25, 2017 If a big group like TBC or Cycle Lab goes through and everyone has to sign in as well as cars waiting to get in to the golf course it will end up in a mess. In my opinion this will not work.I have to agree. Give me a yearly access card (Even if I have to pay for it)Easy in, easy out. It is what......not even 5km. Avg gradient of 3%It is not worth spending 15min to sign in and out to cycle 5km over Klapperkop area. So what will happen is cyclist will not visit anymore (maybe MTBers) and your runners will increase. My 2c So it depends what you want to achive with it. We have patrols and 50 cyclist circling the Kop and still got hi-jacked (a while back but it shows that criminals don't give a hoot about how busy or not busy it is up there) Ask Groenkloof nature reserve.....they have serious access control. And it helps squat. What the actual solution is unfortunately I cannot tell you. I just think this is a futile exercise al be it with very good intentions.
River Rat Posted January 25, 2017 Author Posted January 25, 2017 I have to agree. Give me a yearly access card (Even if I have to pay for it)Easy in, easy out. It is what......not even 5km. Avg gradient of 3%It is not worth spending 15min to sign in and out to cycle 5km over Klapperkop area. So what will happen is cyclist will not visit anymore (maybe MTBers) and your runners will increase. My 2c So it depends what you want to achive with it. We have patrols and 50 cyclist circling the Kop and still got hi-jacked (a while back but it shows that criminals don't give a hoot about how busy or not busy it is up there) Ask Groenkloof nature reserve.....they have serious access control. And it helps squat. What the actual solution is unfortunately I cannot tell you. I just think this is a futile exercise al be it with very good intentions. I guess something has to give here and clearly what we are doing now isn't delivering. I am hoping that with a bit of forethought we might be able to get the access process down to a minute with a permit system.However, large groups of riders will remain a challenge. As for your point about Groenkloof we seem to have solved this problem ( touches wood here) and we are using the lessons learned there as a bit of a blue print.
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