The Richmond Hill Sector Crime Forum (RHSCF) saga continues, with mud-slinging and bad reporting holding sway. We don’t know who is feeding Gareth Wilson his information, but he is certainly using it to try and make a name for himself. We all know that sensationalism sells newspapers!
As a previous chairperson and current committee member of the Richmond Hill Community Forum, I am involved on a day-to-day basis with community affairs in the area. I know Alan Mounter (the current RHSCF Chairperson) well and know his whole history. Two things are relevant here – firstly, that his history is chequered, but, secondly, that he has been very open about it to us. If past mistakes and convictions should be used against a person, then 90% of the government would be without a job.
People change and, through life lessons learnt, Alan obviously has. The amount of hard work and effort he has personally put into Richmond Hill to make it a safer place to live is tremendous and we applaud him for it. That attitude was reflected by the community at large at the RHSCF meeting held on Wednesday evening, where only good chairmanship prevented the Community Policing Forum (CPF) chairperson and some of the police officials from being booed out of the hall.
Oh – and by the way – while we were at the meeting, one of our residents had their vehicle stolen from outside the hall – probably because the i.Patrol vehicle wasn’t present, all the police were in the meeting or otherwise changing shift – and the irresponsible newspaper reporting has let all the criminals out there know that!!
It is a well-known fact that the RHSCF (and Alan in particular) has made a tremendous dent in crime levels in the area. Sometimes we face up to hardened criminals and cannot wait possibly hours for the police to respond to an emergency call! During such an event, a walk-a-lout decided to take Alan on and got a tonk on the head for his trouble. This has resulted in Alan being found guilty of assault – another example of our rather skewed judicial system – let’s protect the criminals at all costs, no doubt! While other cases from our area, including rape, take literally years to sort out, the speed at which Alan’s case went through the courts leaves no doubt in our minds that there was undue influence from certain quarters.
The various SCFs fall under the CPF and, as substructures, should be represented on the CPF committee – or at least that would be standard practice! However, the CPF chairperson doesn’t want that and it would appear that he would rather have a hand-picked bunch of yes-people on his committee. In addition, none of the CPF committee members attend the monthly RHSCF meetings, which they are supposed to do. Not once, during the period of Alan’s trial, did the CPF chairperson or his committee make contact with any member of the RHSCF – to offer advice or encouragement or to explain the way forward depending on the trial outcome. It is blatantly clear that there are personal issues at play here – and the CPF appears to be of absolutely no use to us at all.
The RHSCF has outshone the CPF of any other SCF in the city. As a result of the efforts put in by the RHSCF, the residents and Alan in particular, Williams Hunt awarded the community with one of their i.Patrol vehicles. The community pays all the running costs, maintenance and insurance on the vehicle and its presence in the area has made a huge difference. With the severe lack of police presence and response, it is vital that we have the i.Patrol vehicle to create a visible-policing presence.
Notwithstanding the fact that the i.Patrol vehicle was awarded to Richmond Hill and that our contract with Williams Hunt specifically states that the vehicle may only be used in Richmond Hill, the CPF chairperson and the police have, on numerous occasions, demanded the use of the vehicle in other areas. They have not been terribly happy when this was refused.
Also notwithstanding the fact that Richmond Hill is an active community, with a full committee running its SCF and another full committee running its Civic Affairs section, the CPF and the Humewood police have taken it on themselves to remove the vehicle from the area – without jurisdiction and without consultation with anybody! Alan was ordered – by SMS – to appear with the vehicle at the Humewood police station – where they promptly confiscated it! On what grounds and under whose authority, one may well ask? Williams Hunt certainly had no knowledge of that action at the time. Subsequently, Williams Hunt appears to have bowed to said influence and placed the vehicle in another area. There is no doubt in our minds that the CPF chairperson and certain members of the Humewood police had huge influence in the removal of the vehicle and they have certainly lost all credibility with the local community. It is a pity that personal issues, politics and jealousy get in the way of crime-fighting, which is the real reason these organisations exist!
That said, we cannot allow small-mindedness to cloud our goals and it is now time for us to carry on with crime-fighting issues. We would like to concentrate on making Richmond Hill a better and safer place to live. Let’s hope that others mentioned above will somehow develop the same idea!
Scott Rollo
Richmond Hill
