Cape Town - There has been an increase in the number of criminals who block cars’ central locking signals in the central business district, says the Central City Improvement District (CCID).
The crime, which they say has become a trend, is so common that CCID officers apprehend an average of 10 criminals a month.
Criminals watch motorists parking in the CBD and as they activate their central locking, the criminals press another electronic device, which blocks the signal of the car’s remote control.
Once the motorist has walked away, the criminal then climbs into the unlocked car and steals the owner’s possessions.
Muneeb Hendricks, the CCID’s head of safety, said the trend took root in other CBDs around the country. It had taken off in the Cape Town CBD from October.
PEOPLE DON’T NOTICE
“People often look away or activate their alarm while walking away and they don’t notice that the car hasn’t been locked.
“The alarm lights will go off but people need to check that doors are locked or use the keys to close their cars,” Hendricks said.
He said security officers regularly caught people jamming alarms.
Hendricks said the two main crime challenges in the CBD were alarm-jamming and theft in restaurants.
He said people had to be more vigilant with their belongings and not leave bags on the floor or their cellphones on counters.
Hendricks also said there was no specific crime hot spot in the city.
“Criminals are opportunistic. Crime happens all over but it is more difficult to commit a crime in the CBD than anywhere else in the city,” Hendricks said.
The CCID has 220 security officers who patrol the streets 24 hours a day and also work with the South African Police Service and metro police on crime prevention and other operations.
“The whole idea with our strategy is to eliminate the opportunity to commit a crime.
“If people know they are being watched from all angles then they will realise there is no opportunity to commit crime,” Hendricks said.
CCID chief operations officer Tasso Evangelinos said another challenge was the increase in the number of people working in the city.
He said the employment density numbers had increased sharply in recent years. There are an estimated 150 000 people working in the CBD.
Hendricks added: “Crime is everyone’s problem but property owners and the public need to take ownership.
“If anything happens they need to inform the CCID or police so we can put the resources in areas where there are complaints.”
Evangelinos said another social problem they found was that people would “rent a baby” from a friend or neighbour to take the child with them so they could get more money when begging on the streets.
He said this was a regular occurrence previously but social workers had since intervened and minimised the problem. -Cape Times