Hi-Tech Security Sitrep 24 shows latest crime stats for city

Hi-Tech Security Lowveld’s operation manager, Callum MacPherson, said the system can monitor which areas are targeted by criminals and the date and hours when the crimes occur.
He said over the 273 days that the stats had been gathered, there were 573 vehicle
break-ins that they knew of. “That translates to almost three vehicle break-ins a day, just in Mbombela.”

Tuesday to Friday are the days that the most vehicle break-ins were reported, with the most common time being 16:00 to 18:00. “This I attribute to the fact that most people are on the way home with their laptop and other valuables and then stop off at a store or restaurant. This makes easy pickings for criminals,” he said.
He added that the standard modus operandi is that suspects use a vehicle of their own and move from parking lot to parking lot. They stop next to vehicles as if they themselves are just normal shoppers or patrons and then easily check vehicles next to them without having to walk around and run the risk of being spotted.

He said the main targets are laptops, handbags, wallets and cell phones left in the vehicles.
He said with regards to house break-ins, over the same period of time 396 incidents have been reported. This also translates to 1,5 each day. House break-ins are more spread out, with only Mondays and Sundays receiving less attention.

House break-ins almost follow the military principle of first- or last-light attacks, with the majority occurring early in the morning or just before residents arrive home at night.
“Using Sitrep 24, we can also see that, if the same tendency repeats itself from last year September to December, an increase in daytime break-ins can be expected between 13:00 and 16:00 and high numbers of break-ins during hours of 23:00 to 01:00.”
He concluded that criminal groupings had also become more organised, with vehicles being utilised more often in house break-ins.
Larger groups target homes, as this allows them to gather more goods in less time. The average time a suspect usually spends on site during a break-in is less than two minutes.