Dullstroom – Smart Town Safety Initiative

Not just another community watch!

Conventional community safety methods does not work anymore, especially in a country with such wide open fields and complex criminal landscape. We need technology, we need to revolutionize the community safety methods, and we need to do this fast!

Our community is ready and waiting for this digital community safety revolution in order to become proactive in our crime fighting and victim support activities. We are not getting the expected amount of support from our own police service because they have so much to deal with on a daily basis, they can hardly keep up. They also need this revolution as much as we do, and we are here to assist them and provide the same technology for them once it is tried and tested. Let's do this together!

What have we done so far?

We have developed our own mobile First Responder and live patrol vehicle app which is integrated with our very own Incident and information management system. This allows us to view real-time events, dispatch emergency services to the right place and guide patrollers around hot-spot areas. It has built-in panic button for members and it allows for control room members to identify residents and emergency contact information on one map view.

We have activated and tested two-way radios for community members in each block and we have identified medical and response teams trained and certified, and getting more people to do courses for first aid and tactical response.

Some of our members have successfully completed various courses ranging from First Aid through Civil Defence (Disaster Context) and are receiving continuous practical training to provide victim support to the best of their abilities.

What do we need the money for?

We would like to get funding for the following projects (each a focus area on its own)

1. We would like to improve our software and its reach across multiple devices to support more members
2. We would like to buy medical first aid kits for our members to be readily available
3. We would like to buy more two-way radios
4. We would like to send our members for more training courses to assist fellow residents in need
5. We would like to buy a Drone with Thermal vision for our night patrols and inspections and to support first responders and police in locating perpetrators, fires, accident scenes etc.
6. We would like to install CCTV cameras in our town to initiate smart monitoring in areas to help police
7. We would like to buy large screen TV's to connect all of this in a central control room
8. We would like to buy computers to connect all of the data collection devices in a central place
9. We would like to get fast internet with big bandwidth
10. We would like to start implementing IoT Sensors around town to detect various weather conditions and get readings from our water stations and sensors in open spaces to detect movement
11. We would like to expand our systems to support the failing municipal services and maintenance in our town

We have done great so far, but our funding is limited. Our focused approach to buying, saved us money and we have come really far. Please help us fund our projects, and we would love to share our journey with you.

Our community will provide discounted stays and dining and show you around as VIP's, so you can see what we have accomplished with the funding. Regular updates will also follow the process.

Our projects generate work for those who have lost theirs during COVID-19 by doing maintenance work around our area, teaching basic skills and allowing to charge us their price to learn basics of entrepreneurship. Help us create more such opportunities!

Help us revolutionize community safety by enabling smart town concepts, help us become a safer town to work, learn and play!