Ster Kinekor ‘doing what it can’ to curb thefts in cinemas
In response to recent incidents of patrons' belongings being stolen in certain of its cinema complexes, Ster Kinekor has issued a media statement to outline the steps being taken to curb this worrying trend.
Confirmed incidents have occurred at Rosebank Mall, Eastgate Shopping Centre and Gateway Theatre of Shopping (Durban), during which cunning thieves rifled through handbags in the dark and stole cash, cellphones and other valuables.
The victims were left traumatised and shocked at this blatant criminality which happened, literally, right under their noses.
Ster Kinekor’s media statement reads:
“The safety and well-being of our people and customers is our single most important priority.
“While crime is an unfortunate reality in our society, we’re doing what we can when it rears its ugly head in our cinemas.
“We’ve taken several steps to address this, but can’t provide all the details, given the understandable confidentiality that’s required.
“Some of what we have done includes working with our landlords to increase security levels and create a more visible security presence.
“All our staff have been re-briefed on monitoring suspicious behaviours. With this in mind, cinema management tries to ensure that there are no suspect individuals wandering around the foyer or in our queues.
“While we have briefed our teams to be more vigilant, it is important to point out that some suspected perpetrators may come in as normal paying customers.
“We have also retrained our staff on the operational procedure in the event of suspicious behaviour or any incident.
“In order to minimise the risk of people entering cinemas illegally, we have taken steps to ensure that all access points to the cinemas are properly secured and that they function as they should. This includes emergency exits.
“We have engaged the SA Police Service in expanding on our partnership to ensure we appropriately support each other in terms of crime prevention.
“Information videos are visible in our public areas and on screen before the movie begins. These are supplemented with posters also geared at reminding customers of the need to remain vigilant and in control of their personal belongings at all times.”
