Holiday season the most dangerous

Residents of Alex have been warned to be extra vigilant against criminals who often prey on the public’s excitement and lax mood during the festive season which is about to start.

The warning was Alex police’s safety tip to the public and part of their crime awareness campaign, as well as publicity for other criminal challenges in the township.

The station’s Visible Policing commander, Colonel Johannes Tau said criminals also wanted to join in the festive mood but do so through ill-gotten gains from the public’s hard-earned cash and resources. “Residents are advised not to let down their guard against the many scams and fraudulent activities of criminals on unsuspecting civilians, especially in shops and stokvels,” said Colonel Tau. He added that five cases have already been reported to the police about a scam at Pan Africa Mall where criminals swindled unsuspecting shoppers of money by pretending they were part of the staff at clothing shops.

“They entice shoppers with discounted prices for items and ask them to wait for the items outside after giving the suspects the money. They then disappear with the money leaving the victims stranded and the store managers can’t assist them.” Tau urged those who are approached by suspicious people, to report them to the store managers and mall security.Tau also urged stokvel members not to withdraw large amounts of cash to share as dividends at their homes, as they were easily spotted, followed and robbed. He said it was possible that some of the robbers could have been tipped off by associates of some stokvel members about the sharing of the dividends.

He advised the members to ask the banks to transfer the money into the members’ individual accounts.

Tau further expressed concern about taxis, in particular, the Toyota Avanzas which have been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons. He said they were in the spotlight for their association with rape, transportation of criminals, involvement in business robberies and stolen goods.

He asked the public in such taxis to be patient whenever the police stop them, as it is in the interest of public safety. This after some are also driven recklessly, without number plates and license discs and, at times, the last passengers are either robbed or raped.

He added that the police formed a forum with the Alexandra Taxi Association, Alexandra Midrand, Sandton Taxi Association and the Alex Student Transport Organisation to redeem the good name of their many members against these transgressors. “We will soon issue a joint statement… The forum will regulate and monitor against reckless driving, bad discipline of taxi drivers and train them on customer friendliness,” Tau said.

Details: Alex Police Station 011 321 6700.

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