The police recommend that you take certain steps which could potentially decrease the ease with which you may be attacked, and give advice on what to do should the unthinkable happen and are attacked in your home.
Implementing the following could help to keep you safe:
• Ensure that all doors are locked at all times, and that windows are closed when you are not at home.
• Large dogs serve as a deterrent. At least one of them should be trained to sleep inside the house.
• If you leave your residence, inform your family and neighbours of your intended destination, time you expect to return and the route you will be driving, especially if you reside in a rural area.
• Ensure that tools such as axes, spades, picks and ladders which can be used in an attack, are locked away when you do not use them.
• Vary your daily routine.
• Get into the habit of not immediately falling asleep after switching off the lights. Remain awake for a while.
• You should not be visible in the bedroom from the outside when you are asleep.
• Always keep a torch nearby at night and when you use it, ensure that you do not give away your position.
• If you are unsure about the security status of your home after returning from elsewhere, if for instance your dogs do not come to the gate, do not enter your home.
• Contact your neighbour to assist you in securing your home.
• Identify relatively safe places of refuge like a bathroom, toilet or storeroom. The fewer windows and doors these rooms have, the better.
• Involve employees as they are part of the family. They must be involved in maintaining security on an equal footing.
• Report suspicious behaviour and information to SAPS.
• Clear the areas around the gates of bush and other hiding places.
• Take photographs of all employees and keep copies of all their IDs. It could be to your advantage to identify them, if required.
• Remunerate your staff when useful information is provided that contributes to the prevention of crime.
• Do not employ casual workers without a reference.
• Ensure that you have a good relationship with your neighbours so that you will be in a good position to support and help one another.
- Also see:
Crime fighters’ tactics keep the city and suburbs safer
Valuables lost from theft out of motor vehicles in Mbombela
