Security Update June 26

I am sure that you are aware that Sri Lara Joint Security (Homeguards) is no more our security company and have been instead replaced with GNT Security as of 15 June 2009. The first couple of weeks have had its teething problems; i.e.:

- Complaints from residents on the new guards not performing checks on entering vehicles.
- For smoother operations, we originally opted to keep the security supervisor from previous company but due to certain reasons, he was unable to join us.

Due to the complaints and also the committee's personal observations, we called an emergency meeting on 18 June with GNT's General Manager Mr Tony Martin, GNT's Operations Manager En Rahim, and the new supervisor hired to take charge of DJROA Zone B En Omar. During this meeting, the attached Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was provided to GNT to clarify the security procedures that we wished followed. Since then, we have translated this document (many thanks to LS Yow in assisting in this translation) to Bahasa Malaysia for easier reference to the local guards.

I believe you may have noticed that the guards have perked up since then. However, it please do be our eyes and ears to make sure that the guards adhere to our SOP. If they are not doing so, please report back to us via email with cc to Mr Tony Martin at .

Also, if you should have any constructive feedback that would further develop this SOP and would be beneficial to all residents, it will be much appreciated. For future correspondence to me, please also cc Tony Martin so that the matter/s can be looked into immediately.

Please key these emergency numbers into your mobile:

(1) DJROA Zone B Emergency Dial-in No. - 016 284 8798 (Mobile will be held by Omar or passed on to senior guard when he is off duty)
(2) En Omar, GNT Supervisor - 017 378 3491
(3) En Rahim, GNT Operations Manager - 012 398 8145
(4) Sergeant Jipa, Damansara Jaya/Utama Police - 012 222 4937
(5) Chief Inspector Thomas, Damansara Jaya/Utama Police - 012 606 6021
(6) ASP Ranjit, Damanasara Jaya/Utama Police - 0129 550 5033
(7) Damansara Jaya/Utama Police Station - 03 7722 2222
(8) PJ State Police HQ - 03 7966 2222
(9) Bukit Aman Malaysia Control Center – 03 2262 7555 / 03-2262 6555


Incidents that have happened in the past weeks are:
3 attempted break-ins and 1 house break-ins, all at Jalan SS22/32. The burglar came in from the back of houses which faces the LDP highway. As it was a one man job, we suspected one of the foreign workers who are staying at a house under construction nearby. Hence, the police were requested to visit that premise. Since this police visit, there have been no further reports of break-ins.
One of our non-member residents complained to MBPJ that the guards would not let them in without stickers (which is not true, they were stopped and asked their purpose of entry and then allowed in). MBPJ came to investigate and check on our documents, which we provided them with the approval letter that we obtained from MBPJ itself. Some residents, who have refused to join but continue to enjoy the free security, will continue to try and jeopardize our scheme. However, we will continue to hold strong and will not allow these minorities to demoralize us. We have more supporters than non-supporters.
Finally, we come back to the matter of payment! If you have yet to pay up, please do so immediately. To date, only 320 residents have paid up as against 550 from last quarter. We need your support. Checks made payable to "DJROA" can either be passed on to the guards or slipped into my mail box at 143, Jalan SS22/27. Please make sure you indicate your name and address on the back of your check.

Security Update (2 June 2009) - Termination of Homeguards Services

Dear All,

This is to inform that DJROA (Zone B) committee have terminated the services of Homeguards. Their last day will be 15th June 2009 at 7.00am. The reason for the termination is quite clear and I will not dwell on it any more. Enough has been said.

The management of Homeguards have given us the assurance that their guards will not slack but continue to provide the security services until that date. Should any of you see any untoward behavior from the guards, please inform me immediately and we will take appropriate action. Please continue to be the eyes and ears of the security committee.

The new firm that has been contracted to take over is GNT Security Serivces Sdn Bhd. They will provide local Malaysian guards for a start. But by latest 1st October 2009, GNT have given us a commitment that all their local guards will be replaced with Napales guards. We hope that the new firm will be more professional in dispensing their duties and that the security of our zone will even tighter. We expect the new guards to be much more thorough in checking cars without stickers going into our zone.

That may mean more inconveniences to all of us but we think it is a necessity for our security sake. So once again, I ask for your patience should there be cars being stopped at the boomgate in front of you. Please do not show your displeasure by honking or trying to over take by going around the barrier.

Rest assured that we the security committee are continuously doing our best for our neighborhood. We need your support, especially financial support. I'm happy to report that most of the people who paid up for the first quarter also paid up for the second quarter, and some beyond.

And now its time to pay up for the 3rd quarter. So we would appreciate if you can make your checks to "DJROA" for RM150.00 (for 3 months of Jun/Jul/Aug) or RM350.00 (for 7 months Jun until end Dec 2009) and drop it off at the guardhouse or drop it into my mailbox (143, Jalan SS22/27).

There was a few of you who continue to receive these circulars but until now 6 months past, you have yet to sign up. We would appreciate if you can join the rest of your neighbors by signing up. If you have any problems or issues why you can't or won't join us, please contact me. We can try and work something out for you.

There were also a small number of you who signed up for the first quarter but some reasons known to yourself did not support us by paying for the second quarter. Again, if you have any problems or issues why you can't or won't sign up, please contact me. We can try and work something out for you.

Our long term hope is to get 100% support from every resident as this security scheme benefits everyone, paying or otherwise.

Thank you to all who have been supportive and we hope you will continue to help us make this neighborhood of ours a much safer one for everyone.

Have a great day!

Cheers!
John Chen

Security Update (19 May 2009)

Dear All,

By now all of you would have noticed that we continue to carry out what we had said we were going to do, latest being building of the 2 guard houses and installation of the boomgates. This could only happen because we have your financial support. To date for the second quarter (Mar-May 09), we have a total of 545 residents who paid up, including 10 new members. So a big thank you to everyone who have supported this security initiative.

Our next plan is to install CCTVs at the 2 guard houses, i.e. once we have the funds to do it.

We recognize that there are many weaknesses from your constant feedback, especially related to the attentiveness and efficiency of the guards. Rest assured we have taken note and will continue to address them. Changes and improvements will be on going. Recently we had a car stolen from the car porch of a house in our zone. That's the first car stolen since we started the scheme 5 months ago. There were a few house break ins too. No snatch thieves were reported to us. These intrusions just go to show that we should never take our safety for granted. Our security guards are at best a deterrent to crime. But crime can still happen when the will of the criminals is greater.

We have given instructions to the guards that the boomgates will be OPEN from 6am-9am and from 6pm-9pm from Mondays to Fridays. These are prime times with heaviest traffic going in and out of our zone. All other times, the boomgates have to be DOWN. The guards will now have no excuse but to check vehicles with no stickers going in. They also have the list of cars from the NON SUPPORTERS/FREE LOADERS who are living among us. They will be stopped, questioned before being allowed in.

For sure there will be an increase in traffic jams going in to our zone. I ask all of you to please exercise patience when there are cars in front of you being stopped and checked. DO NOT horn or try to over take those stopped cars. This inconvenience is for our own good. If you do not practice patience but show your displeasure at the guards who have been told to stop and check vehicles without stickers, what do you think they will do? They will eventually just let all cars in 'cos they do not want to get more scolding from the residents. Then this whole scheme will fail. So please help them and let them do their job properly.

It's again time to pay up for the next quarter, i.e. RM150.00 for June/July/August. For your convenience you can also opt to pay for the next 6 months until November, i.e. RM300.00. Many residents have already paid up to November. Please make CHECKS OUT TO "DJROA". Do not make any checks out to Homeguards any more as it is easier for DJROA to coordinate the collection.

You can either drop the check off in my mailbox (143, Jalan SS22/27) as before or to any of the guards at the guard houses. If you require the guards to pick up the check, please call 016 284 8798. Mr Kuljeet, the security manager will be going around to assist in the collection so please extend your support to him.

Thank you for your continued support.

John Chen

Attempted Snatch Thieve Infront of Atria Post Office

Taday is my off day. I had many errand to do. After banking at Maybank near Atria, I drove forward to the post office and as usual i just doubled park to drop 2 mails into the mailbox. When I got back into the car, 2 Malay guys in a motor stopped besides my passenger side and peeped into the car. My instinct told me they were trying to snatch handbag. Luckily I didn't bring any handbag. They moved on and made a u-turn in front of the post office and travelled against the traffic in regardless the road surrounding Atria shops has been made single direction. These 2 guys were in jacket. The one who sit behind wore his jacket half way from his hand covering his lap. I think he probably has his tool or hammer under the jacket. I am 100% sure they were looking for targets especially women driver who leave their handbag next to the driver seats. All ladies please take extra pre-cautious. Please do not leave your handbag next to driver's seat, neither should you put under the passenger seats. There were cases that bags put under passenger seats also were snatched. I guess putting in the car boot is the safest while one is driving.

Security Update (5 March 2009)

We are now 1 week into the 2nd quarter of our security scheme!!

As mentioned in the last Security Update (17 Feb 2009) there are a number of further improvements that we have planned for our neighborhood. The major one that we are working on right now is the construction of 2 permanent guard houses (14ft length x 6ft wide) and electronic boomgates for both entrances. We believe that would be the best way we can secure our neighborhood. With the boomgates, the guards will be able to stop cars without stickers to ask where they are going and take down particulars. However, there are over 150 houses out of 690 houses that did not join our security scheme thus their cars will not have stickers but will still be going in and out daily. That will continue to be a pain and cause frustration among us paying residents. However, we have no choice but to allow them entrance. And yes, we are still trying to reach out to them to join our scheme and so far been able to secure 3 new members this quarter.

In order to able to hire the 12 guards, build the guardhouses, boomgates, etc and to keep this scheme going successfully, we have to be certain that we have the necessary support from all of you when going forward into the next few quarters. In the first quarter we had 540 residents who signed up. For this 2nd quarter, as of yesterday, we have so far only 194 who have paid up.

For this scheme to succeed we need everyone to come forward and show your support. So for those of you who have not paid up, please do so immediately.

Here are some payment options:
(1) Payment for 3 months (Mar/Apr/May) at RM150.00 total payable to either "Homeguard Assist" or " Sri Lara Joint Security Services Sdn Bhd" or "DJROA".
(2) Payment for 6 months (Mar to Aug) at RM300.00 total payable only to "DJROA"
(3) Payment for 9 months (Mar to Nov) at RM450.00 total payable only to "DJROA"

Our preference is for you to make checks payable as per the above with your name and house address written at the back of the check to ensure that we know who it is from. Please put the check in an envelope and pass it over to any of the guards at the guard posts or drop it into my mail box (143, Jalan SS22/27). We have also worked out how much DJROA is to return to the residents who joined the previous security scheme which terminated on 1st Dec and our this present scheme supercedes this. I wrote to these residents (on 17 Feb 2009) and many have reverted back to me to say they are donating that balance for our Zone B's infrastructure fund. Thank you very much to all the generous residents. We appreciate your generosity.

However there are still about another 100 of you who have yet to revert on what you'd like to do with this reimbursement. It would be much appreciated if you would revert back to me as soon as possible. Until we receive the proper instructions from you, we will hold this reimbursement.

On incidences that happened in the past month, here are some that were reported:
(1) Attempted break in to house on road 27, suspect it happened between Feb 9 and 20. The resident reported that he found the padlock ear of the metal grill to the front sliding door of his house cut. Also the sliding door lock has been pried open. However the burglars were not able to open the sliding door as the resident put a piece of wood along the slide railing. This is a very good lesson and I would encourage all of you with sliding door to add on this extra precaution. This piece of wood doesn't cost much and is very good at stopping the burglars from breaking in. When faced with this the only way for the burglar is to smash the glass door. We suspect that this happened before the grill on road 33 was put up.

(2) Maid problems - The guards have reported that there have been at least 2-3 maids who had attempted or managed to run away the last 2 months. Two were picked up by men on motorcycles. Our guard was also called to a house where the maid refused to work and was giving problems. Please note that there is not much our guard can do in this case but by showing up the maid knows that the authorities are taking note of her actions so hopefully that would scare her somewhat.

(3) House attacked by money lenders (Ah Longs) - A house of a non-supporter along road 32 was hit twice by who we believe were Ah Longs. The first time only red paint was thrown at the house gate and walls. The second time, it was red and black paint and 3 Molotov bombs. Our guards called the cops and also fire department who rushed to the scene.

As I have mentioned before, we should never take our family's safety for granted even with 24/7 guards. They are, at best, only deterrents. We must always be careful and constantly aware of our surroundings. With the guards, our neighborhood has become much safer than without. It is not perfect and there are much improvements to be made and we will do so with everyone’s continuous support. Our endeavor to assure the safety of the neighborhood and our families will not succeed if you do not play your part. So please help us help you by showing us your support in terms of contributing to the fees.

Thank you.

Security Update (17 Feb 2009)

Dear All,

By end of this month (February) our security scheme will be 3 months old. Here's a quick summary of what we've managed to achieve in the short 3 months:

• Applied for and obtained approval from MBPJ for the security scheme which includes private security, closure of road 33 and back lanes, setting up 2 guard houses/posts, etc.
  
• Managed to recruit a total of 540 residents’ homes to our scheme out of a total of 690 occupied homes.
  
• Hired Homeguards to provide the 24/7 security for our zone, Zone B.
  
• Set up 2 guard posts with total of 12 guards to date (4 guards x 3 shifts + 1 manager) with 1 cabin guard house along road 35.
  
• Grilled up and secured road 33, back lane between road 31 and 29, and also the lane that leads to road 32 from the LDP.
  
• Managed to reduce considerably incidents of car jacking, snatch thieves, house break-ins and robberies.

What we are planning to do next:

• Build permanent guard houses at road 35 and 31.
  
• Awaiting TNB to approve our application to have permanent electricity for the 2 guard houses.
  
• Set up boom gate for both the entrances.
  
• Evaluate cost of installing CCTV.
  
• Further training of the guards by Homeguards so that they are more attentive.
  
• Stop the KDU students from using our zone for parking their cars.

Major complaints by the residents:

• Guards are not stopping ALL the vehicles without stickers.
  
• Guards were seen sleeping.
  
• Guards were not paying attention to vehicles going in and out, seen just chit chatting, on the mobile, sms, etc.
  
• Some residents not happy that we have grilled up the road 33 and not allowing any access through it.

We have noted all your complaints and have brought it up with the management of Homeguards who have assured us that they will continue to train and monitor the performance of their guards. They asked for 1 month grace to get their guards up to speed with our expectations. We have agreed and will work closely with them and monitor their status/improvements.

On stopping of every car without stickers, realistically that would be rather difficult to execute all the time as there are more than 100 homes (x 2-3 cars per household) that still refuse to join our scheme and hence do not have car stickers. In addition, there are also many regular visitors who have not bought car stickers. If the guards do stop all the vehicles, it will most definitely result in a traffic jam as our roads are not made for such tight security checks. I've seen impatient residents trying to overtake stopped cars, even with oncoming cars. Accidents could happen and I've seen tempers flare. However, having said that, there is still much room for further improvements. Some of the guards have become complacent and not bothered to check often enough but just random checks. All these need to be improved on and rest assured that our committee is committed to seeing them improve on their deliverables.

We are now entering the 2nd quarter and time to continue the payments for this worthy endeavor. We hope you will continue to support this cause and not slack off. For this security scheme to succeed long term, we need your long term commitment.

Here are some payment options:

(1) Payment for 3 months (Mar/Apr/May) at RM150.00 total payable to either "Homeguard Assist" or " Sri Lara Joint Security Services Sdn Bhd" or "DJROA".

(2) Payment for 6 months (Mar to Aug) at RM300.00 total payable only to "DJROA"

(3) Payment for 9 months (Mar to Nov) at RM450.00 total payable only to "DJROA"

Our preference is for you to make checks payable as per the above with your name and house address written at the back of the check to ensure that we know who it is from. Please put the check in an envelope and pass it over to any of the guards at the guard posts or drop it into my mail box (143, Jalan SS22/27).

If you want the guards to come to your house to collect your check, please call 016 284 8798 and ask the supervisor to collect from you to pass it to me.

Do not pass any cash to the guards. We will not be responsible for missing cash.

For the first year, we will need to raise as much funds as possible so there will not be any discount even if you pay for the full year. However, for our 2nd year of operations, we will certainly consider bulk discount if we have sufficient revolving funds in the bank. I look forward to your continued support.

Thank you.

Secutiry Update as of Jan 16, 2009

Happy New Year to everyone.

We're now well into 2009. Since the 24/7 guard services started, I can feel that our neighborhood is much safer than before. There are much less incidents reported. That's exactly what we want to achieve. The most severe incidents reported were two attempted burglary, both along road 32. Fortunately the burglars were not successful. Most of the other incidents are minor and some of the domestic types. I've not heard of any snatching incidents or car jacking. I hope those will never happen here again. And a big thank you to all of you who have written in giving suggestions on improvements and observations on the attentiveness of the guards. We will try to incorporate your suggestions where possible.

I'm happy to report that as of today we have 535 residents who have signed up for our security scheme. There's 690 occupied homes in our zone, so yes, there's still quite a number out there who have not signed up for whatever reasons. We hope that they will change their mind and contribute to the success of this scheme. If you know of your neighbors who have not signed up (no green tag on their gates) please help us by convincing them to sign up too. This scheme benefits everyone living here.

Many of us are now getting ready to celebrate the Chinese New Year. I'm sure many of our neighbors will be going back to their kampung to be with love ones. It's assuring to know that our homes are much safer today than in the past. However, as a precaution, starting from 15 January to 14 February, for this one month period we have increased the number of security guards to 4 guards per shift, i.e. total of 12 guards to keep watch on our homes when we are away. They have been briefed to be even more attentive, suspicious and cautious with all vehicles going into our neighborhood, especially those claiming to visit friends or relatives.

If you are going to be away, I suggest you make use of Homeguards Tiger Eye service. Please call the Homeguards Call Center (03 3373 3994) and inform them of the dates that you will be away. The guards when they are on their patrol will stop by your house to check for any signs of intrusion. If they spot something amiss, they will call you right away to report it. Each time after they check on your house, they will drop a note into your mailbox to inform of the date and time they stopped by to check on your house. Also, if there are so called "visitors" who claims that they are there to visit you during the period you are gone, they will not be allowed into the neighborhood. This service is complimentary from Homeguards for us.

For those of you who will be holding parties in your house, please inform the guards of the date and time of your party so that your guest will not be inconvenient at the guard post. The guards can also direct them to your house.

Over the next few weeks, i.e. after CNY, we will be closing up permanently the entrance at road 33, currently with oil drums. We will put up a 9ft high fence to stop all from using it. However, during emergency the gates can be opened by the guards to allow for entry and exit. We will also erect a 9ft high fence at the back lane of road 31, i.e. after the houses of the two detractors. With that done, our neighborhood will be even more secure.

We are still awaiting TNB's approval to connect permanent electricity to the two guard post. We are currently depending on the very kind generosity of the two residents who have temporary allowed us to tap electricity from their house. A big thank you to Mr Lu (road 35) and Mr Lim (road 32) for their cooperation and generosity. It is truly appreciated.

Once the electricity is in place we will install electronic boomgates to the two post, starting with road 35 first. We are still trying to figure out the best compromise on how to erect boomgates for road 31. That is a bigger challenge and will need the cooperation of the residents living around road 31, 32 and 34. There will be inconveniences but I hope they will be willing to compromise and accept it.

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all our Chinese friends Gung Xi Fa Cai, Nien Nien Yo Yi, Wan Xi Ru Yi!

And to all other friends Happy Holidays!