Watchcon

Watchcon is the Hout Bay and Llandudno Community Safety Information Center (CSIC) which was established by and is owned by the community through HBNW (Hout Bay Neighbourhood Watch).

Watchcon would not be possible without the support of our many private donors and especially our primary platinum sponsor FADT, without whose support Watchcon would have had to cease operations many years ago.

WATCHCON History – a first in SA

Hout Bay is extremely fortunate to have a local emergency control room such as Watchcon, the HBNW control centre managed by CCP. Every resident or visitor can phone - or radio in - 24 hours a day with any emergency or concern of suspicious behaviour. The qualified operators immediately alert the relevant authorities and then warn anyone listening in on the 2-way radio airwaves to be aware of any problems and, if necessary, request assistance from CCP and Neighbourhood Watch members, security service providers, SAPS and/or other emergency response teams. They also publish this information on the relevant Neighbourhood Security WhatsApp channels.

Watchcon was initially set up and manned by Deep Blue Security at their offices next door to Penzance Vet in Main Road. They then moved to new premises further along Main Road (corner Blue Valley Close) towards Constantia Nek, and the Watchcon radio room moved with them. A management split resulted in part of the business becoming Hout Bay Security, now known as SMA Security and Deep Blue Security moved to another part of Hout Bay. HBS (and Watchcon) continued to operate out of the same premises for a few years.

Since 2009, FADT (Fidelity ADT) has sponsored the Watchcon facility. They are currently the main financial contributors towards the running costs of Watchcon and have been designated Platinum HBNW sponsors as a result of this support. CCP employ the operators and manage the day to day operations of Watchcon. In September 2012 Watchcon moved to a location in Mainstream Shopping Centre, before moving to Earthworx Garden Centre, corner of Victoria & Valley Roads, Hout Bay in October 2015. In October 2019 Watchcon moved once again and is now based at 9 Princess Street, Hout Bay.

Please note that Watchcon is not a security service provider. It is, however, just one phone call away - accessible to all residents of Hout Bay and not just HBNW members or CCP contributors. However residents should realise that this response is dependent on the availability of resources at the time of an incident. Therefore, having access to a facility such as Watchcon, does not mean residents should decide to forego a contract with a Security Service Provider such as ADT or Deep Blue who will provide them with the usual guaranteed armed response at the time of an incident.

As part of an Integrated Community Safety Plan (ICSP) developed in 2016 with all community safety role players including SAPs, CoCT Law Enforcement, CPF (Community Policing Forum) and CCP (Community Crime Prevention), HBNW has contracted CCP to manage the day to day operations of Watchcon.

Going forward HBNW and CCP will collaborate through the HBCIA (Hout Bay Community Improvement Association) a non-profit company established to attract corporate and government funding to support Watchcon and other strategic community safety projects that are needed to suppress and prevent crime in all areas of our diverse community.