DURBAN Central SAPS has urged victims of crime not to interfere with crime scenes.
Captain Muzi Maphumulo from Durban Centra said the police have come across instances where victims of crime have been quick to repair what was broken as a result of an offence without first reporting to the police to enable them to conduct initial investigations.
“I can count cases like theft from or out of motor vehicle or house breakings. The victims will come to report the crime after having fixed, for example a car window, or having fixed a house door. This makes it difficult for us to solve these cases as some of the elements like doing fingerprinting have been tampered with,” said Maphumulo.
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Maphumulo said police appreciated that the victims or complainants needed to continue with their daily lives as soon as possible, however police also needed to verify if crime had indeed taken place.
“We urge our communities to first lodge the complaint without interfering in something which could be used as evidence later,” said Maphumulo.
Report cases to the police via 10111 or 112 from a cellphone.
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