The security of apartments during the festive season is an issue every year in Potchefstroom. The same mistakes by students yield the same advice from law enforcement to remind people and students of what they can do to keep their belongings protected.
Warrant Officer Mpho Manyoba says, during the festive season, criminals come with new strategies, feeding off of ignorance and negligence of apartment owners. She says students should stop leaving their keys near the apartment, as criminals know where to look for them. Manyoba suggests a useful trick: putting a two-litre bottle of water on the lawn, to reflect light and feign movement around the apartment. She says burglars have started breaking in through roofs, pretending to be painters and that burglars are, “Fearless,” disrupting areas all over Potchefstroom, including van der Hoffpark, Miederpark, and Kanonierspark. “People must be vigilant,” Manyoba says. The “affordable” solution to safety is neighbourhood watch, “If they are not staying in Potch, I’ve said it, and I’ll say it again, they [students] must have a network of people that they trust,” says Manyoba. Having someone to look after the apartment is the best safety precaution, says Manyoba .
Hansie Goosen, operational manager at Mooirivier Beskerming, says crime rates during the festive season have scaled-down as students have started to take belongings with them. He says to make it obvious that there is nothing of worth in the apartment, by opening curtains. “You get your street kids who don’t go for TVs and computers, but copper and things attached to the home,” says Goosen. Combat this by turning lights on and off in different rooms, to create the illusion of movement. A light shining during the day is an indication that people are not home.
The festive season shows a peak in burglaries in apartments (about 5 to 7 more cases), Mooirivier Beskerming encourages using burglar bars over windows and safety gates to make it as difficult as possible for burglars to get inside.
Theuns Jacobs, operation manager of C.B Security says, “Not all students are security conscious”. Some students have alarm systems but do not check if there is enough electricity over the holidays to keep the system running. He says there are cheap time sensors to switch on lights during the night. The tremendous effort around CCTV cameras around complexes has helped in the effort to reduce crime. Jacobs says students, ultimately, must take responsibility for their flats.
