The festive season is filled with a lot of celebrations as people will be going away for the holidays.
It is unfortunately, also a time where criminals take advantage of the fact that some home owners are away and their homes are left unattended.
As you are ready to dash out, it is important to think about the safety of your home before going on holiday.
The Sebenza SAPS spokesperson, Sergeant Sharon Mahamba-Tsotsotso, urged home owners to let their neighbours know they will be going away for the holidays.
Sgt Tsotsotso gave the following tips for the festive season:
- People must notify someone or their neighbours when they go away for the holiday
- When you arrive home in the afternoon, look around to see if there are any objects on the driveway, such bricks, bottle caps, juice bottles etc because criminals mark the houses. If they leave a brick on your driveway and come back to find it there the next day; they will know there is no one home.
- Do not leave the lights on in the house. Again, criminals monitor the houses and if the lights are always on in the middle of the night, they will know you are not home.
- Be vigilant and very careful of strangers wanting help from you. These days you cannot trust anyone
- Do not carry or withdraw large amounts of money
- People can also notify their nearest police station when they are going away to let them know so that the police can patrol their street
- Do not stop for anyone on the road claiming to be from the police, unless they are in a clearly marked police vehicle. Be careful of fake police badges and police uniforms.
Sgt Tsotsotso said there is a new trend whereby criminals remove number plates from vehicles while they are parked by their owners.
“The criminals remove the number plates and when the owner drives off, they follow them and show them the vehicle’s number plate through the window. The owner will think it has fallen off and once they stop, the criminals hijack them,” said Sgt Tsotsotso.
She said no similar incidents had been reported in Gauteng yet, but urged motorists to be vigilant and not to fall victim to this.
