“We would rather act on a thousand false
alarms, than miss the one that is real”
By Ant Katz
I first met Amir Noy in the week after he took over as the director of CSO Joburg a few months ago. “I’m pleased to meet you,” he said politely but firmly, “but I’m not prepared to give you an interview now,” he told me at the time. Noy asked for a few months to find his feet and promised he would be glad to do an interview in the near future.
In the intervening several months we have met on several occasions and I have done a few stories on THE Community Security Organisation (CSO) in Joburg’s activities. Most notably on their missing person’s service (LOST A LOVED ONE? CALL CSO FIRST!) and the wonderful medical emergency service Ezra (EZRA TO THE RESCUE).
I have got to know Amir and he is a rare breed of Israeli gentleman and a consummate security professional.
True to his word, Amir Noy gave me a comprehensive interview last week.
Amir now lives in Norwood with his wife Tal and three of their five kids whose ages range from 25 to a laat-lammetjie of just three. The two older kids are at universities in Israel. “We have five kids and they all go to school,” says Amir.
He served for 14 years full-time in the IDF before retiring as Colonel in 1991 after which he moved into a new role in security management. Before joining the CSO he was a project manager to the government of Zimbabwe for five years. He is too much of a professional to offer further details on the project.
Amir is impressed with the CSO he has taken over as director, and with the SA community’s commitment to our security. He shared his feelings about the organisation, its role in the community and where he would like to up-weight it going forward. But first he shared some very impressive statistics about the organisation and its activities.
SECURING AN EVENT IN JOBURG EVERY TWO DAYS
Since January this year, Joburg CSO has provided security services for over 180 events – a service Amir says saved the community a substantial amount of money as CSO don’t charge at all and these services would otherwise been sourced from the private sector. And, he adds, the services of the private sector would have been at a far lesser standard “as our volunteers are motivated by the fact that they are protecting family and friends.”
Remember: The best number to call for any emergency is
the centralised community control room on 086-18-000-18
That’s 086-CHAI-THOUSAND-CHAI
The CSO is funded by the community through donations to the United Communal Fund (UCF) and most of those providing security services are volunteers.
Approximately 60 Shuls, all Jewish schools and other key communal facilities are secured by the Joburg CSO.
The schools have their own volunteers who are drawn from parents and staff. CSO provides training and team leaders and is, of course, always available with support and back-up when required.
15-PLUS MEDICAL EMERGENCIES & 2-3 MISSING PERSONS CASES A MONTH
Ezra, the medical emergency service provided by the Joburg CSO, has saved countless lives.
EZRA TO THE RESCUE: The medical response unit of the CSO consists of responders who are among the most highly-trained life-support medics in the country. About half of the team are qualified doctors and all of the responders undergo ongoing specialised training in rendering emergency assistance and stabilisation of patients in accident or domestic emergency situations. In any medical emergency, these are the guys you want to get to you or your loved ones first!
There are a dedicated team of 15 responders on standby - and they get called out several times a week. Their primary function is to get to the scene, establish the extent of injuries if there are multiple patients and prioritise who to treat first. They then stabilise the injured before handing them over to an ambulance service for transportation to a hospital.
Ezra responders treat the general community in the vicinity of the ‘Shtetl’ and have been responsible for saving countless lives by getting the best trained specialised medical responders to the emergency situation as quickly as possible.
CSO also responds to missing persons calls from the community and has received 23 such emergency call-outs in the year to date. In every case they found the missing person and every one was found alive.
LOST A LOVED ONE? CALL CSO FIRST!: In just one month this year, the CSO was called in five times for assistance with missing community members. They found all five – and all safe! So, if you lose someone in future, make sure your first call is to the CSO.
TAKE CSO OUT THE PICTURE & JOBURG JEWRY WILL STRUGGLE TO FUNCTION
“In my perception,” says Amir Noy, “CSO is unique in one important way - there is only one community security organisation, and that is how it should be.” He believes that the commercial security companies play a vital role in fighting crime.
However, the CSO plays a vital role of securing the community which falls under his responsibility. “Protecting Jewish life and Jewish way of life,” is how Amir describes CSO's role.
“You can’t take the CSO out of the picture,” says Amir. “As long as the CSO exists, the community here will continue to function. The community know we are here and that we are fulfilling a very important role at the core of the community’s day to day life.”
I asked Amir how he would define the CSO, who are they and what do they do?
“The CSO is the community itself, a bond of brotherhood, a unique organisation that can be a role model to all other community functions,” he answers.
“We are involved in a very crucial niche in community life and without the existence of CSO the community would find it difficult to continue to exist in the geo-political situation that prevails in South Africa.”
RECRUITMENT IS DONE THROUGH ANYONE WHO HAS A CONSTITUENCY
A lot of the work of the CSO goes unnoticed. There is a prevailing wisdom that says the more effective security is, the less those being secured knows about it.
Everyone who has a flock in the Jewish community assists the CSO to recruit their volunteers. Rabbonim, schools, the SA Jewish Board of Education – they all operate together with the CSO and become recruiters for them, explains Amir.
CSO & Ezra rely 100% on funding by your
contributions to the UNITED COMMUNAL FUND (UCF)
The CSO was formed almost 20 years ago and today has many family members active among their corps of volunteers. “We have husbands and wives, fathers and sons/daughters, brothers, etc,” says Amir. "It shows the commitment of community members to the mission that hasn’t changed over the years. I can humbly say that the community should be proud of its sons and daughters fulfilling this important task, and I would like to keep this spirit for the next generations to come.”
Volunteers are given ongoing training which, says Amir, combines with their work on the ground “to create one very important thing… called experience!”
The only factor that qualifies volunteers to be senior is their individual capabilities. “Training qualifies them to do more senior tasks and improve their skills,” says Amir, and the most competent at a specific task takes charge. “Seniority means responsibility and that comes with experience.
“Seniority and experience should allow you to work in a team. If I am at my kids school or in a missing person’s team, I am there as a soldier,” he says. He takes orders from the mission leader. “My title stays in the office.”
The CSO culture prescribes that even the organisation’s full time operational staff do volunteer duties. "Is it compulsory” I asked Amir. “It’s not necessary to make it so,” he says, “it is an unwritten rule, it is in our culture.”
SO WHERE TO NOW FOR CSO JOBURG? WHAT’S NEXT?
Jewish communities have always been under threat, sometimes more and other less, says Amir, and the establishment of the State of Israel added a new dimension of threat and hate. He says that he thinks “if you ask any member of the community you will find that they belong to some Jewish organisation,” be it a school, a Shul, etc. What is different from the past, however, “is that today we can proudly protect ourselves and continue community activities with no fear,” he says.
“I have been pleasantly surprised at the security awareness of the Joburg Jewish community,” says director Noy. “I have personally experienced the awareness individuals have to their situations – clearly showing that the community understands that we are not in a completely quiet and peaceful era.”
The CSO don’t rest on their laurels either, that’s for sure. “In security there is always room for improvement,” is Amir’s approach. “I want to have as many security-oriented people within our communal organisations as possible.” He plans to train anyone who deals with the Jewish public, “our teachers, the bus drivers and community members. "There is a room for everyone who wants to contribute. The idea is to have as much security as possible with eyes and ears everywhere."
On the legacy he would like to leave with the community, Amir says he would like the youngsters to be able to "stand up for themselves.” Not that they should be bullies, he adds, and quotes General Patton who said: “It is better to fight for something than live for nothing.”
Included in Amir’s plans is to educate youngsters at all Jewish day schools that they must always stand up for their beliefs. “Whether they are secular or frum, if we teach our children this we will have a healthy young generation to take over as the next band of leaders of this community.”
On what lessons he learned from the community, Amir says: “Something that I have learned from SA Jews is the concept of United we Stand and Divided we Fall.”
HOW IS THE COMMUNITY SECURITY ORGANISATION STRUCTURED?
The organisation is overseen by a Board of Trustees who voluntarily contribute time and effort to see that the organisation is properly focussed.
The CSO consult and do audits on physical and practical security for any Jewish installation and give security advice to all Jewish organisations.
WHAT'S THAT NUMBER?
086-CHAI-THOUSAND-CHAI
Asked about the CSO’s role in preparing for the worst case scenarios such as mass evacuation, Amir puts on his professional hat and takes a shtum powder. All he will say is that the CSO “is constantly assessing all possible threat scenarios to the community and following global examples of how to manage them.”
AMIR TELLS US WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR OVER YOMTEIVIM
“I would like to ask our beloved Jewish community to be security aware over the holidays which is always a sensitive time security-wise.” Be observant at the places you visit routinely: your homes, offices, Shuls. “If you see anything out of place or suspicious – even if it is small and might look not important – go immediately to the next security person, tell them what you have observed and, most importantly, insist that they check and verify thoroughly that everything is alright.” If you are in a non-security environment, always call: 086 18-000-18 and report on your concerns.
“We become more of a soft target when we are in public places,” explains Amir, imploring community members to “pay special attention to the kids during the high holidays.”
Amir says the CSO “would rather act on a thousand false alarms, than miss the one that is real. This is the culture I found here, and I will make sure I leave it behind me as well.”
NEW YEAR’S MESSAGE FROM AMIR NOY AND THE CSO
Towards the High Holy days director Noy says he would like to express his thanks to all organisations associated with the CSO, particularly the management of Beyachad, the UCF, SAJBD, SAJBE, UJW, UOS, Chev, Beth Din, Hatzolah and the various Youth organisations with whom the CSO works closely during the holiday camp periods.
“We have ongoing challenges ahead of us and I’m sure that by working together, we will make no mountain high enough,” says the director.
“I would like to take the opportunity and wish Shanah Tovah to all the CSO volunteers who give of their time and play an important and vital role as security providers to the community,” says Amir. “And last, but not least, Shana Tovah to the CSO board of trustees and the full-time staff who put in great mutual effort to make things happen.”
READ MORE ABOUT CSO ON MY SHTETL:
EZRA MEDICAL RESCUE CALLED OUT OVER 15 TIMES A MONTH
CSO JOBURG FIND 5 LOST JEWS IN 1 MONTH
Remember: The best number to call for any emergency is the centralised community control room on 086-18-000-18 – that’s
086-CHAI-thousand-CHAI.
Remember it. Write it down. Train your family and domestics. This is a single number that will get CSO, Ezra, Hatzolah, GAP and CAP to wherever you need them. And quickly!
