Mountain Security Services CC trading as Mountain Men a company that has fighting crime at it's heart offers home, personal and business security needs along with armed response covering areas from Kirstenhof, Muizeneberg to Glencairn.We were founded towards the end of 1998 by ex police officers, Patrick Freeman and Allan Dillon as well as a former member of a shark research expedition and fisherman, Billy Bownes. They started out using binoculars and bicycles donated by members of the community of Lakeside to combat crime.
At that stage Lakeside was experiencing a much higher level of crime than it does today. They would sit just above Boyes Drive and watch the area below for any suspicious persons walking about. Years of police experience resulted in criminals being identified at an early stage. With no means of communicating with the police, once a suspect was observed, the men would leave the mountain and follow the suspect on foot. When the suspect’s started to commit a crime they were arrested and members of the public would contact the police. A new form of community security was been birthed.
Local residents soon started to call these men "The Mountain Men" and requested that this type of community security be carried out on a more regular basis. This eventually lead to people wanting a regular observation service being provided to the residents of Lakeside. What started out, as a hobby and part time work soon became a full time business. They then to registered with the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) and had to register as a Close Corporation.
As this way of community security and policing was impacting on the crime being committed in the lakeside area, more residents began to support them. Initially though nobody was prepared to assist them in getting off the ground, as they had no start up capital. Fortunately Malcolm and Leigh Emms, two estate agents in Lakeside offered to sponsor us with free advertising on the back of their flyers. They became instrumental in our growth to where we are today.
In 2001 we were asked to start combating crime in the Muizenberg area. The Muizenberg Improvement Districts (MIDS) contracted The Mountain Men to tackle the crime in the area, and since starting operation in Muizenberg over a 1000 arrests have been made and in conjunction with the South African Police, closure of a number of drug houses and shabeens, as well as splitting up a cell of gangsters operating in this suburb have been part of the results
By the end of 2002 we had expanded our operations from Lakeside to Glencairn, at the request of residents in these areas. In 2003 we started our armed response division, which works in conjunction with our mountain observation units.
At present we have a staff compliment of 21 persons and four vehicles. Our 24-hour control room is located in Westlake and is the nerve center of our operations. We assist the local police, law enforcement, National Parks Board, Sea Fisheries and the Emergency Control Centre from here. We also have a dedicated radio frequency for neighbourhood watch organization that wish to make use of this facility. Our armed response vehicles are also tracked via satellite 24 hours per day from our control room.
From humble beginnings we have grown into a major crime fighting company, with a community based ethos.
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