House robberies in Bedfordview were reduced by more than half after the arrest of illegal security guards.
This is according to Mr Gavin Henry, the chairperson of the Bedfordview Community Policing Forum (BCPF).
He said five weeks prior to the arrests, there was a house robbery almost everyday in the area.
“I have also noted how drastically these robberies were reduced after the SAPS arrested guards who were either illegally in the country or not registered with the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSiRA).
He urged home owners to always check if their guards are registered and have been issued with a PSiRA number, which allows them to operate as a security officer.
Mr Henry said the BCPF discovered that the guards were underpaid, which he believes could have been part of the reason some of them were involved in schemes to provide information to criminals.
The SAPS echoed Mr Henry’s sentiments.
“In one of the robberies, a man who had worked at a certain home on Arbroath Road fled with the criminals after they had committed the crime,” said Sergeant Mduduzi Nhlabathi, the Bedfordview SAPS spokesperson.
