A LOCAL security company working with the police and residents arrested two alleged fence-hopping trespassers and a roof-hopping burglar on the Berea last week.
Blue Security operations manager Brian Jackson said an armed response officer had responded to a property in Shuter Road in Glenwood at around 3.30pm on 4 August, where a client informed him that a burglar had been seen running on the roof.
“When our officer entered the property he heard noises and went upstairs to investigate. He found the ceiling trapdoor open and then spotted the burglar and arrested him,” he said.
The man was searched and found to be in possession of jewellery. He pointed out other stolen items including a laptop, an electronic tablet and a pair of running shoes. Jackson said the suspect was handed over to the SAPS Flying Squad who attended the scene.
He said a trespasser was arrested in Kildare Road in Glenwood on Thursday after he was spotted fence-hopping. The incident took place at 6.45am.
“Our armed response officer responded to a property in Heraldine Road after a resident saw the trespasser jumping over the back fence to gain entry. The suspect fled when he realised the resident had seen him,” he said.
The Blue security officer arrested him in Kildare Road and he was handed over to the Umbilo SAPS.
In another incident Jackson said a trespasser was arrested after a resident caught him attempting to enter a property in Evelyn Place in Carrington Heights at around 6.50pm on Wednesday.
“Trespassing may not seem like a serious crime but it is important that residents and armed reaction officers take these cases seriously as the only difference between a trespasser, a housebreaker or a robber is often simply the time they have had at hand to perpetrate their crime undetected,” he said.
He said residents sometimes tended to take trespassing lightly and didn’t always press charges which meant the police had to release the suspect who could go free and possibly commit crimes again.
Jackson advised residents to take a tough stance against trespassing and to send a strong message to criminals that crime will not be tolerated in their suburbs and that they would be brought to book without exception.
