To keep you safe

Headline News

09 November 2021

K9 security, entertainment & Mike Bolhuis

Rustenburg/ Kroondal – The Saamstaan Fees was held on Saturday 30 October to support our local community security groups.

With high crime rates in our communities and the limited resources of our police service, our first line of defence is our security companies, neighbourhood watches and farm patrol groups.

The community security groups are people from our communities who take it upon themselves to prevent and fight the crime in our area, to be their neighbour’s keeper and to be the eyes and ears of the police. They dare the cold, late nights and danger, mostly at their own cost and with little or no support.

The festivities included entertainers Berné Heyes, Geraldine van Dyk and Riaan van Wyk, Evert Swart and Ashton Wheeler who set the tempo from the stage from early morning till late in the evening.
National Crime Assist (NCA) member Niel Vermaak and his K9 trainees gave a remarkable performance. The well-trained dogs showed incredible discipline.

Niel started the training school as a service to his community. “There are too many dogs that end up in shelters because of bad behaviour. I wanted to assist members of our community to build a bond with their dogs. It sometimes takes only a bit of training to turn an unruly dog into a well-behaved companion and security asset,” Niel said.

The demonstration by HenCor K9 Security and ER24 captivated the audience. With the assistance of volunteers Johan Bouwer, Paul Potgieter and De Wet Blaauw in ‘bite suites’, they re-enacted a chase after an attack. After managing to stop the three ‘attackers’ HenCor’s sidekicks Arrow and Patschinka jumped into action. Showing not only how they can quickly bring a criminal to his knees, the K9s even pulled one of the ‘attackers’ from a vehicle.

HenCor is actively involved with tracking and recovering stolen vehicles in the North West. They often assist in our community in cases of emergency. Once the ‘attackers’ were caught, ER24 responded to attend to any injuries that might have been sustained during the ‘attack’.

Henry Holsthyzen of HenCor elaborated on the dogs’ skills and training. He also encouraged the attendees to get the necessary training for themselves and their dogs so that they will know what to do and how to react should they be attacked. He said:

“Knowing what to do in a life-threating situation can be the difference between life and death. We provide training to the community that is focused on the individual. What works for a young man of 24 and a lady in her 80s is not the same and that is what we hope to teach people.”

ER24 Rustenburg branch manager Marchant Jacobs said that it is vital to call emergency services when an attack occurred.

“Everybody always rushes to the scene, but no one calls an ambulance. Every minute counts in an emergency so you can rather cancel the ambulance if the situation is under control instead of the ambulance arriving after it is too late.”

The highlight of the evening was an informative and interesting presentation by the well-known private investigator Mike Bolhuis. Mike works in support of and with SAPS, as well as various other safety and security authorities.

He is passionate about the fight against crime, particularly crime against women, children and animals.

“In order for the situation to change in our country there are two things that we need to actively work on. The first is building our relationship with God and the second is to stand together,” he said.

The performance by Fatman was the perfect end to a successful festival. His voice and charming stage personality had people laughing and dancing the night away.

The organisers of the festival would like to thank everyone who supported this initiative: