Alsatian Road in Glen Austin prone to common robberies
On Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, Sector 1 Crime Forum says there is a spike in criminal activity, including, common robberies.
The Midrand CPF Sector 1 Crime Forum is concerned about the increase of common robbery incidents occurring on Alsatian Road in Glen Austin.
This was revealed at the sector’s first public meeting of the year, held at President Park’s Bikers Church on March 9.
The Sector 4 Crime Forum manager Constable Muzi Mkhwanazi announced the crime stats to the attendees on behalf of the Sector 1 manager Constable Terrence Katleho Mohau Mosia.
Mkhwanazi said the sector performed well between January and February. “However, theft out of motor vehicle and theft of motor vehicle has been a challenge. The problematic days of the week are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday and the target roads are Old Pretoria Main, Alsatian and 16th Road. Alsatian Road is where we get most common robberies because there is an institution for higher learning where there are lots of learners and they get mugged,” said Mkwhanazi.
He added there were also bogus cops operating in the area who were using the same modus operandi to steal people’s cellphones. “The bogus cops pretend to be police officials probing a robbery incident and ask to check a person’s phone to make sure it was not stolen during the robbery, then drive off.
“Housebreakings also occur most often between 22:00 to 04:00. The challenge is that the robbers jump from one house to the other and do not use roads, which then makes it difficult to apprehend them. We plan operations based on the crime analysis patterns to see the need for areas that we need to focus on. We encourage the community to work with us and be part of our patrollers.”
Mkhwanazi said crime was more rampant in Sector 1 because it was close to townships such as Kaalfontein, Ebony Park and Tembisa.
Sector 1 chairperson Jonathan Burrows said there was a dire need for police visibility in the area.
“As a community, we need to take crime seriously and work together with the police and the patrollers in eradicating crime because that can go a long way. Our main problem is that we do not have enough patrollers to assist, and we urge every community member to come and help us.”
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