CITY BOWL ARMED RESPONSE (CBAR) AND ADT

Two armed response companies namely CBAR and ADT serve the OH Watch area. When choosing which company to employ, residents should be aware that there are some significant differences between the two companies, not the least being in the length of the contracts that residents are expected to sign.

What follows is a summary of some of the more important features of the two companies:

CBAR ADT (Head Office in City Bowl) (National Security Company) Length of contract: Twelve months. Three years. If cancellation is not notified in writing, two months prior to the end of the first period, contract is then automatically renewed for the next 12-month period. Area of coverage: Green Point to Observatory. Devils Peak to Gardens and There are five vehicles of which Tamboerskloof. one is a dedicated vehicle in OH There are four vehicles and two and one patrol motorbike shared motorbikes, but none dedicated with Gardens and Vredehoek. to a particular suburb. Response time: Security industry requirement is Company will not commit to for maximum of 15 minutes. anything less than the industry CBAR claims to do better than requirement of 15 minutes. this. Transparency: Company will not make tracker Will make tracker-data available data available after an incident. to residents after an incident. The tracker data would confirm where the response vehicle was at the time of the incident and how long it took to get to the resident's house. Tracker System: Has a tracker system that allows Although there is a tracker control room to see exactly system in place, it is not a real where vehicles are and to guide time system - data can only be them, in real time, to the accessed after the fact. address requiring assistance. Number of Subscribers: Refused to provide this Refused to disclose this information information Neither company requires their response officers to drive a minimum mileage per shift.

Distances covered per shift vary between 120 kms and 200 kms.