Any neighbourhood watch @ USJ 9 ?

[dontwh]

Hi, I m new in town. Just shifted to USJ 9. Is there any neighbourhood watch activities going on in USJ 9? My neighbour few doors away just had a break in 2 weeks ago. :(

Anyone any idea?

[kwchang]

Yes, we had an active NW there once upon a time. However, due to general apathy and boredom, the great idea soon fizzled out. We do meet once in awhile, just the few of us who started the NW thing. This core group consist of about 5 still-loyal people. We have more in an email-group where we send emails to each other when we feel like it.

Do email me at kwchang@usj.com.my and i will put you into the email group. From there you will be notified if we have another teh-tarik session just for USJ9 NW members. In there you can highlight the robbery problems as well. I will tell you more when you join the group.

[pcyeoh]

On a bigger picture, we have the Jawatankuasa Penduduk Zon 3 that basically covers USJ 9 - USJ 15 for which I am the Chairman. Click on here to understand what is this JKP role about in a neighbourhood like USJ 9

http://www.usj.com.my/bulletin/upload/showthread.php?t=6995

[Alan Cheah]

How about USJ 8 area?

[pcyeoh]

If USJ 9 tak dak, I don't expect to see one in USJ 8. Morever USJ 8, if you are talking about the Subang Perdana Court, you do not need one as the Goodyear Management will take care of it. The rest of USJ 8 are the commercial areas where the motor shops and other engineering shops are. You can bring up residential matters such as road works, poor lighting, broken drain etc etc first with Goodyear Management who may liaise directly with the authorities or in some area liaise with the JKP Zon 2 (USJ 2 - USJ8)

[KL1155]

Hello all, I moved to USJ 9 about 3 years ago and 2 days ago I experienced a break in. It happened in the day time after me and my wife left for work. We believe there were at least 2 person involved and they were only looking for small items that can be carried easily. Their main target was the master bedroom. All cash included foreign were of course gone. My beloved EOS 100, 2 zoom lens and all accessories were wiped clean, even manuals were taken. My few months old Olympus C725 Ultra Zoom hand carried from US, Pioneer home theater set, my wife's jewelry, handbags, even her set of collector's Disney 7 Dwarfs were not spared. Phillepe Charriol Celtic Steel Cable watch, my Sektor chronograph diver's watch, My Calvin Klein and G2000 suits, Tommy Hilfiger winter jacket, Timberland, Nike and U2 windbreakers, Armani and Aigner belts, things that I've collected over the years. Things that are pretty much irreplaceable coz nowadays, most stuffs change by the season. All in all, we lost more than 20k in goods and cash.

Anyway, I should let you guys know how they broke in so you can better protect your homes. 1) They used a long stick to pry my autogate over the rubber stopper so it opens inwards, providing a gap enough to walk in. Will not raise suspicion since they walk in and not climb in. 2) They must have used a crowbar to pry the padlock "ear" on my wrought iron grill door. They must have bent it back n forth a few times till the iron broke. My mistake of locking only on the outside. Now I put 2 locks, 1 in and 1 out. 3) They just pry the wooden door until the wood crack around the lock areas. My carpenter told me that wooden door will give way easily. Invest more on the grill door and protect the area where the padlock would be so they don't have space to cut the lock or pry the ears. Don't ever use aluminium grills. As easy to break as wood.

Using brute force, I think they only needed a few minutes to break through the Grill and Wooden door. Too bad my alarm was faulty. I'm getting a new unit to replace the old one and adding sensors at outer locations so that it will trigger the alarm before they manage to get into the house. I'm also considering installing a cctv system so that it can capture the action if they manage to get pass the alarm but I hope the alarm will keep them at bay.

It's pretty sad that we have to turn our homes into some sort of prison but we live in a highly targetted location so there's no choice. We can also make a difference by being more alert of our surrounding... always be on the lookout for any suspicious cars or bikes in the neighbourhood. Call the police if the same vehicle rounds the area a little too often. It might just save one of our neighbours from being robbed. We only have ourselves and those around us to help each other.

[KL1155]

Dear USJ Residents, after our break-in experience, we have made a number of calls to the USJ8 police station to report any suspicious characters seen rounding the neighbourhood. We should all do our part to look out our windows or doors whenever there's any slow moving cars or motorcycles, note down their number plate and pass it to the police. USJ8 Police Station = 5635 6904. Officer in charge = Inspektor Hisham. Any information passed to them can help them catch burglars or prevent burglary. Below are 2 incidents as an update:

INCIDENT 1:
We have noticed that a Security Patrol bike has been making rounds in our area since the 6th of March 2005 and this was noted to the police during our break-in report. The bike has a Yellow rotating siren-light at the back. What caused us to be suspicious was A) those on the bike only wear t-shirt and not security uniform, and B) we don't know of any appointed Security Patrol in USJ9. The second time we reported sighting the bike, Koperal Mokhtar came by to meet us to gather more information. We recently got an update after his investigation. The security patrol belongs to a security company that is doing a 3 months trial in our area. However, the Koperal found out that their so called "Security Officers" are all Indonesians, and illegal at that! We, as the residents in this area are exposed to these so called "Security" patrol. How can we have illegals rounding our neighbourhood under the guise of Security? WE MUST PROTEST AGAINST THIS SECURITY COMPANY. We have already made our report to the police. If more of you do the same, the Police will have to take action against this Security Company.

INCIDENT 2:
This morning when our new alarm went off, our neighbour called us. Got my father-in-law to go over to check on the house and also reset the alarm. He informed us that he was there earlier to water the plants and noticed that a Malay man on a motorbike has circled the road twice. My in-law decided to follow him from a distance since he was leaving the house. The man drove down to near the Mosque and was hanging around at the roadside near a tree, looking here and there. He then saw a maid in one of the corner house and went over to chat with her. After that, he went off. Number plate is WFN 599, which we have reported to police. PLEASE BE ON THE LOOKOUT AND OBSERVE SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITIES. We can only depend on ourselves to help protect our neighbourhood. FOR THOSE WHO HAVE MAIDS, WARN THEM (REPEATEDLY) NOT TO TALK WITH STRANGERS! This is how the burglars gather information on the neighbour's activities or even your own to profile their next targets.


Also, I have heard of a lot of incidents where victims unwittingly provide informations that they will be away from their house to Burger Seller, Nasi Lemak Seller, the friendly waiter at the mamak store, cashier at the mini market, etc. NEVER EVER LET ANYONE KNOW THAT YOU'LL BE AWAY, unless they're family. But even then, DON'T TALK ABOUT WHEN YOU WILL BE AWAY IN PUBLIC AREAS. The police told us that a USJ2 resident's house was broken into when he went to perform his Haj. You can never know that these people are informers to burglars where they will get a cut of the looted house. No matter how friendly they are, don't tell anyone that you'll be travelling where, or when balik kampung. They can see your car number plate and it's a simple matter of passing that info to their burglar contact and your house will be marked. Even if they ask "lama tak jumpa, pergi mana?", it's wise not to let them know you travel often. A simple Tak Senang is good enough. BE SAFE AND NOT BE SORRY.

[kwchang]

Excellent contribution.
I have seen a car "patrolling" USJ11/2 area about a month or 2 ago. The car was manned by Indians and had a yellow flashing light on its roof. I was wondering if someone hired them. I don't see it around anymore.

The other day I saw an Indon/Malay guy lurking in the backlane 2 rows from my house while i was out jogging at 7am (Sunday). I stopped and stood at the end of the backlane to observe and made sure he saw me. This fellow was about to climb the backfence but when he saw me, he cooly got down, took his bike and rode off the other direction. Later, I saw the same fellow again in the playground dismanteling an aluminium ladder. It was obvious that he was "collecting" metalware to sell off to the junkyards in Puchong.

[KL1155]

UPDATE on Security Patrol Incident.

We found out via Koperal Mokhtar that a resident in USJ9/4 actually brought in the Security guards and they currently have a temp guard house at USJ9/3B. However, there are a few things that should concern all of us.
1) As mentioned earlier, Koperal Mokhtar found out that the guards are illegal Indonesians. Contact person of the Security Company however told us that they only employ locals and all profiles have been sent to USJ8 Police Station. Who is correct? How come none of the Police including Koperal Mokhtar who is in charge of patrolling USJ9 know about this when we made our reports?
2) They looked more like drug addicts than security guards.
3) They are supposed to only patrol USJ9/3A - 3D (residents who signed up). What are they doing "patrolling" other areas?

We are getting Koperal Mokhtar to verify some of the discrepancies. Will update here when we get them.

I should also add this new type of cases that Koperal Mokhtar shared with us: CHINESE MAN WITH A LADDER. They target specifically End-Lot houses or fully extended Kitchen type. Using the pretext of fixing Air-Cond, they break in through the upper floor via the ladder.

[rachel_fplee]

Perhaps USJ 9 residents should also be aware of the latest method used by this ronda guy who's consistently "servicing" USJ9/5 & nearby areas.

Instead of a bike with a yellow (sometimes blue) rotating siren-light at the back, a normal bike has been used lately (without the rotating siren). Yes, he still puts on a vest but one can hardly recognize if the vest bears the security company name or not. Each time he rode passed the housing area, occasionally he'll flash his torch light at selected houses.

As I've been observing this routine for sometime, I'm really curious if this guy who has been patrolling USJ 9/5 at the same time every morning is from the security company. Or is he someone who's on the look out to target for another break-in?

As KL1155 mentioned in his last update, most of us (if not all) will agree that if none of the residents at the area signed up for the service, would the security company be conducting free service by patrolling the area twice daily (once at night & once in the morning)?

In fact, I've also made a courtesy call to the security company 2 weeks ago, pretending to be someone new to the neighbourhood. This person-in-charged has confirmed the only area which they are currently doing marketing is USJ9/5H. No patrolling so far since they have not got enough members to sign-up (they need at least 100 members).

In fact, if the response is good, they might even propose to residents to pay more so that they can also patrol during the daytime (7am till 5pm). This is because the security firm believes 7am-5pm is actually the "hot" period for thieves considering most residents will be out of their homes during those hours, either at work or running other errands.

Last Saturday, I also made met-up with a friend who's staying a road behind. According to him, he has signed up for the service after being recommended by his friend who's staying at USJ9/3. My friend was desparate to do more things to safeguard his family after couple of failed break-ins.

His latest experience was during CNY when an Indonesian man climbed from the back-yard and knocked on the maid's room window. The Indonesian thief told the maid since both of them are from the same country, she should perhaps "help" him instead, by keeping quiet! Thank goodness the maid alerted my friend who called the police immediately but sad to say, only the Rela members showed up after 20 mins!

It really surprised my friend when I was jokingly telling him that we've got "free" patrol service whereas there's none for his area eventhough he has signed up & paid for it.

My immediate neighbour also had a different encounter couple of days ago. There was a night when all of them were asleep (time: 11 plus to midnite), a guy rang the doorbell and her maid attended the door. The guy introduced himself to be from a security company. The maid believed him & let him into the house! My neighbour & family was awaken by the doorbell sound & male's voice. So, they went downstairs to check out and found the guy talking to the maid.

Not believing that a security company would be doing marketing at the middle of the night, she & other family members chased him out. It was really a blessing that no harm was done to any of them. After the incidence, it got her so worried because there's always a possibility that the stranger was checking out the place/surrounding area for a robbery or break-in attempt!

Is our neighbourhood still safe & conducive for all of us?...Guess this question will be a channel to a lot of other open issues and measures that can be taken!

[pcyeoh]

My name is PC Yeoh and I am the Chairman of the JKP Zon 3 committee which covers USJ 9 to USJ 15.

Lately, it has come to my attention this so called security company doing patrolling duties on its own accord. This is not only happening in USJ 9 but also in USJ 4 and my community itself that is USJ 12. I personally encountered one of their boys. I intend to go to the police station this week end and speak to Inspector Shan or his deputy what the police view this unprofessional people's services.

As far as I see, it may be construed as collecting protection money. We also cannot be sure that they are professional in their work. For all we know, they may be working with the 'other party' to create more br.eak in which will mean more people will sign up. By right they should approach the local community leaders to work out a standard operation procedure, accountability and affordable cost to get at least 70% buy in or else it isn't fair that others who refused to pay still enjoy the security services.

We will have to brainstorm on how to encourage people to join. For community with a lot of commercial establishments like USJ 9, may be getting these commercial establishments to offer priority services or loyalty discount to subsribers of security services would entice the residents to pay up. They can see their 'Return on Investment' (ROI) in the form of the discount or better services. All this entails hard work but is feasible. We can discuss more on this.

[rachel_fplee]

My name is PC Yeoh and I am the Chairman of the JKP Zon 3 committee which covers USJ 9 to USJ 15.

Lately, it has come to my attention this so called security company doing patrolling duties on its own accord. This is not only happening in USJ 9 but also in USJ 4 and my community itself that is USJ 12. I personally encountered one of their boys. I intend to go to the police station this week end and speak to Inspector Shan or his deputy what the police view this unprofessional people's services.

As far as I see, it may be construed as collecting protection money. We also cannot be sure that they are professional in their work. For all we know, they may be working with the 'other party' to create more br.eak in which will mean more people will sign up. By right they should approach the local community leaders to work out a standard operation procedure, accountability and affordable cost to get at least 70% buy in or else it isn't fair that others who refused to pay still enjoy the security services.

We will have to brainstorm on how to encourage people to join. For community with a lot of commercial establishments like USJ 9, may be getting these commercial establishments to offer priority services or loyalty discount to subsribers of security services would entice the residents to pay up. They can see their 'Return on Investment' (ROI) in the form of the discount or better services. All this entails hard work but is feasible. We can discuss more on this.

I'm sure residents will be very interested to know the legal status of this new security ronda. Abt 2 weeks ago, I've also spoken to Insp. Hisham from USJ8 police station regarding this unclear security service.

In fact, the more I got to know about the way this security company is running their service around the neighbourhood got me more worried. The guy I spoke to from the security company told me that it's their standard procedure to station a patrol car around covered zone so that they can monitor the situation.

But if you look at the other side of it esp. if these guys are bogus patrol ronda, they are actually monitoring the movements and daily activities of the residents so that they can planned for break-in or robbery when the situation permits!

Do hope that there'll be promising outcome from you soon!