IN 2016, UNISA’s School of Criminal Justice conducted research into understanding and preventing house robbery in South Africa. Based on in-depth interviews with convicted robbers they found that a staggering eight out of 10 residential robberies are committed using information from domestic workers, gardeners and former employees.
Charnel Hattingh, national marketing and communications manager at Fidelity ADT, said this is particularly worrying as residents usually view their domestic staff as a home’s first line of defence and they play a critical role in security.
“Homeowners need to be aware of the importance of vetting all staff very carefully. We recommend you use a specialist placement consultancy who can do the necessary background checks,” she said.
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Although the survey is almost three years old, a number of the findings are still relevant. These include that robbers will monitor the home for as long as two weeks, that most attacks occur between 7pm and midnight as people are relaxed, sleeping, cooking or watching TV and the security systems and beams are not activated. Robberies can continue until 4am. Findings revealed that 97 per cent of robbers are armed, on average, and an armed robbery gang has four members. An average of 30 per cent of all house robbers have either committed murder or won’t hesitate to commit murder.
“In our experience we have found that security measures like electric fences, detection beams and Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) are still key deterrents to crime, as are pets. Small dogs that sleep inside the house are seen as a deterrent. How secure your neighbourhood is, is also a meaningful factor. If robbers are scouting carefully they will view regular patrol and a strong neighbourhood watch system as a good reason to move on,” she said.
She said it is equally important that domestic staff always keep security gates on doors locked – they may not hear an intruder over the noise of the vacuum or know that someone has entered the house while they are in the backyard. The alarm system must always be armed when they leave the house, even if it is only for a few minutes.
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