Crimes against vehicle owners a challenge
Ways of breaking into vehicles in the city have been changing over the past few months with several incidents being reported all across the city.
POLOKWANE – Ways of breaking into vehicles in the city have been changing over the past few months with several incidents being reported all across the city.
The theft of or from a motor vehicle occurs at shopping centres, on pavements, in the street and even in closed parking areas. This issue became one of the points of discussion at a community policing forum (CPF) meeting held at the Polokwane police station on Tuesday.
CPF members reported that during their regular patrols they had found that vehicles parked in driveways had also been targeted.
Some of the methods used to break into vehicles:
1. One of the easiest ways of breaking into a vehicle without damaging anything is to wedge something between the door and the car frame or window and then used a homemade “slim Jim” used by locksmiths to open the locked door button.
2. The biggest difference between breaking into a vehicle with or without an automatic locking system is that the button either needs to be pulled or pushed to be opened.
3. Vehicles with unlocked boots give easy access to the rest of the vehicle as most back seats can be pushed down or a back door lock can be reached through the boot. Most boots also have an emergency cable that can be used to open the car passenger door.
4. Manually operated drills are also used when a bakkie is the target, holes are drilled into the clip holding the back window in place. This weakens the clip and the window is pushed open.
Polokwane police spokesperson, Capt Ntobeng Phala, said because manually operated drills did not make a lot of noise, their use was becoming more popular in robberies.
“Residents are urged to make sure that their vehicles are locked in secure structures like garages, or to install motion detection lights when a vehicle is left outside,” Phala said,
He said the most effective tool in the fight against criminals breaking into vehicles was to make use of an alarm system and not to leave vehicles unattended as far possible.
