Trellidor’s holiday safety tips

“THE festive season is recognised as driving an uptick in crime levels and is definitely a time to take extra precautions, but the focus should be on using basic common sense,” says Richard Sambaza, marketing manager at Trellidor Johannesburg South. “Homeowners who follow basic precautions are generally well protected.”

According to recently released South African crime statistics in 2016/17 there were 22 343 recorded incidents of house robbery. This means that, on average, 61.2 South African households were robbed each day.

This presents a challenge for many South African homeowners as they leave their houses unattended whilst they holiday in other parts of the country.

Take note of the following safety tips to prevent becoming a victim.

Tip #1 – Community matters

There is no better protection than knowing your neighbours. In the walled-off suburbs of Gauteng this is often easier said than done, but, nonetheless, the safety rewards of community interaction are significant. The bottom line is straightforward – get to know your neighbours.

Tip #2 – Understand your risk profile

Criminals clearly target some neighbourhoods specifically. If the area you are living in is recognised as becoming increasingly affluent, it becomes attractive to crime syndicates. “Improving your alarm system, asking for regular drive-bys from an armed response provider or teaming up with neighbours on a WhatsApp group are ways to take precaution,” says Sambaza. “Regardless, you can’t take the right action if you don’t understand the risk level in your area. If you don’t know where to start, try speaking to security professionals operating in your immediate neighbourhood.”

Tip #3 – Don’t forget the fundamentals

Sliding doors and large windows are go-to points of access for criminals and must always be fully secured. “The most common mistake homeowners make is prioritising a single-entry point at the expense of others. One should never be fooled into thinking that protecting the biggest sliding door on the property is all you need to do. You have to cover all the possibilities,” says Sambaza.

The best approach is to work with a security professional to audit the entire property and to install the appropriate protection in each relevant access point.

Tip #4 – Store valuables off-site

According to Sambaza, every South African family heading for a holiday should decide on what qualifies as a valuable item, and store these with friends or family for safekeeping.

“The cost of a robbery is already very high, but you can keep a cap on the risk by ensuring your most valuable items are not in your house while you’re away. Gather these up and ask friends or family to keep them for you.”

Tip #5 – Your identity is valuable too

With cybercrime at an all-time high across the world, personal identity information is very valuable to criminals. “It’s a good idea to make sure you haven’t left any documents or printouts with ID numbers and other vital information on them lying around,” says Sambaza. “If you like to write important access details and passwords into a book, make sure you take the book with you on holiday.”