Riverwell Residents Association member Neville Burnett and Honeydew Police Station spokesperson, Captain Balan Muthan, have urged the community to report crime, following a spike in housebreaking in Weltevreden Park in the first half of January.
Burnett said, “By far, the majority of the crimes appear to be opportunistic and take place at night, with suspects gaining entry by climbing walls or breaking precast slabs and escaping by wall-hopping from property to property.” Burnett believes the perpetrators are locals.
He appealed to residents to check their camera footage and hand it over to him or to the authorities. “Even if your property wasn’t broken into, check your footage. If you find anything, send the footage to me or [the authorities]. By doing this we can build up a profile of the perpetrator(s) and link the various crimes and hopefully increase the chances of arrests,” he said.
Muthan said, “Criminals, at times, have a tendency of scouting out potential areas or homes where they believe crimes can be committed.”
He said criminals in the past used certain methods to suss out properties they intended breaking into. “The most famous method was the use of a cold drink can, which they littered on the driveway of the potential property,” he said.
“The suspects would keep an eye on the can for a few days, and if it had not been removed they assumed the owner wasn’t around. Another method was to observe lights during the day and how often letters got collected from the post box.”
He gave residents the following tips:
• When entering or exiting your property, be very observant and vigilant
• Make sure all electrical security features, like your fence and alarm, are tested before exiting the property
• Make sure your security company does regular patrols in your area
• Make sure your children know that boundary gates should be locked.
