SAPS meet with Ekurhuleni malls in preparation for the festive season
Many concerns were raised and addressed.
The Brakpan SAPS, the Ekurhuleni district commissioner and the deputy district commissioner engaged with mall management and security across Ekurhuleni on November 29.
The meeting held at Carnival City aimed to share statistics and trends with the malls and plan a collaboration to curb festive season crime spikes in malls.
The SAPS Ekurhuleni deputy district commissioner, Brigadier Lebohang Machakela, briefly covered the statistics for crimes in Ekurhuleni in and around malls.
The most common crimes committed are theft of motor vehicles, theft out of motor vehicles, shoplifting and armed robbery. These crimes will likely increase during the festive season.
As a result, the SAPS stations and districts were ordered to increase police presence in malls and shopping centres, with CPFs, the SAPS, and Crime Prevention Wardens.
Despite increased police visibility, SAPS members and other groups can not patrol every store at the same time.
“Stores also need to take responsibility for their security,” Machakela said.
The crime statistics were shared, and these malls were identified as hotspots for the following crimes:
Shoplifting is reported most frequently at Alberton City and Greenstone Mall between the first and sixth of the month from 12:00 to 17:59.
Theft of motor vehicles occurs most often at Greenstone Mall on Thursdays and Saturdays, in the middle and end of the month from 12:00 to 17:59.
In Ekurhuleni, station wagons, bakkies, sedans and motorcycles are stolen most often in order from most to least common.
Theft out of motor vehicles, including smash-and-grabs in and near malls, is most common across Edenvale and Alberton, and especially at Stonehill Crossing. These crimes happen more on Wednesdays, between 12:00 and 17:59, between the 16th and 31st of the month.
Armed robberies with firearms or other dangerous weapons occurred most often over the last year at Eastgate, Greenvalley and Springs malls.
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These robberies usually happen between 12:00 and 17:59, from the middle to the end of the month, and items stolen are typically cash, cellphones and electrical appliances.
Cash-in-transit heists near malls or in mall parking lots happen more between the first and sixth of the month, between 09:00 and 11:59, and 15:00 and 17:59.
Several stakeholders addressed concerns raised by the CPF, mall management, and security companies.
CPF members brought up car guards aiding and abetting criminals while shoppers were inside. A plan was made to engage malls in screening car guards through the criminal justice system before hiring them.
Security firms were concerned about card scammers cloning or stealing cards at ATMs, which was not included in the statistics.
District commissioner Major-General Anna Sithole said the lack of statistics on these cases is due to low reporting rates and a lack of bank security and CCTV evidence.
Some mall management asked why numerous cases opened for shoplifting or theft of or out of motor vehicles were not reflected in the statistics, as well as the issue of sector vehicles and SAPS members taking too long to arrive at malls when a shoplifter is caught, or refusing to open a docket or take statements.
Upon hearing this, Machakela and Sithole promised to pursue disciplinary action against members who do not open dockets. They gave attendees their contact information and requested management report this misconduct to them personally or to station commanders.
“The cops can’t determine if you have a case or not. That is the courts’ job. They just open the docket, take the statements, collect evidence and make arrests,” Machakela said.
Colonel Marthinus Pienaar, the SAPS Ekurhuleni detective commander, was also disturbed by claims that detectives never came to collect CCTV evidence after the commission of a crime.
“If you open a case and do not get a confirmation SMS with a case number, inquire why it was not opened. Once a case is opened, detectives collect evidence and do a preliminary investigation immediately,” Pienaar said.
A fact noted was that if a detective did not collect evidence timeously, no case was opened.
