Following an increase in home invasions over the festive season, Weskus Distrik’s Colonel Jacobus van Litsenborgh urges says the best defence is to make your household or business less attractive to criminals.

Colonel van Litsenborgh suggests the following steps:

Increase the risk for criminals.

• Install motion-sensor lights or garden lighting to reduce hiding spots.
• Improve access control.
• Keep valuables out of clear sight.

Target hardening.

• Secure windows with burglar bars and alarms.
• Install a reliable alarm system.
• Sign up with a PSRA / SAIDSA-registered armed response company.
• Lock doors, even when at home.
• Don’t leave tools, ladders or garden equipment accessible to aid entry into your home.
• Don’t hide spare keys in obvious places.
• Secure easy entry spots such as your garage or shed.
• Display Neighbourhood Watch signs, security company stickers, and CCTV warnings.
• Always activate alarms when leaving home or settling for the night.
• Barking dogs – irrespective of their size – are great deterrents.

Remove excuses.

• Use signs such as “Private Property’ or “No parking” to communicate boundaries.

Remove the rewards.

• Clean graffiti and fix vandalised property to prevent repeat visits.
• Mark your possessions clearly, making it harder to sell or easier to identify and recover.
• Always verify and record the identity and references of anyone working at your home be that contractors, domestic workers, cleaners etc. Request and keep copies of their identity documents.

“Whether the criminal is opportunistic or part of a professional syndicate, your security awareness and systems must make them consider that the real risk of entering your home is greater than the potential reward”.

Colonel Jacobus van Litsenborgh
Safety Coordinator: Weskus Distrik