Linden police would like to ensure the public that no private information will ever be shared with suspects if you report a crime anonymously.
This comes after a Windsor East resident who wished to remain anonymous, contacted Randburg Sun claiming they had been intimidated by alleged drug dealers after sending the police an anonymous tip-off. “I feel that I am being threatened after I gave the tip-off, as soon after, I received a few SMSes from a random number saying that they knew who I was and that they would kill me. At the moment, I am petrified, and I am not living anywhere near my home at the moment,” the person said.
The person added that they had been observing someone who they believed was selling drugs at a property for a long period.”I thought enough is enough, so I decided to give an anonymous tip-off to get the police involved, and I asked them explicitly that I remain anonymous. The person said police arrived on the scene and spoke to the alleged dealer for some time, and observed the alleged dealer leave followed by the police. “About 10 minutes later, I received a message on my phone saying, ‘I know that you are the one who told the police that I am selling drugs, I am going to put a bullet through your head,’ and I also now feel threatened by others in the neighbourhood,” the person added. The person also claimed that they had only been living in Windsor East for two months and that it would be impossible for any person in the neighbourhood to have their phone number.
Linden police’s Captain Alex Vermaak stated strongly that through his investigation into the complaint, there was no way that the responding officers would have been able to give the details of the person who reported the crime to the alleged dealer.”As the police, we have systems in place to ensure that all who report crimes anonymously are protected and that they remain anonymous. I believe that if [this person] was receiving threatening messages, any suspected criminal must have obtained their contact number through other means.”
He also confirmed that officers were unable to arrest the suspect on the day as there was no evidence for arrest at the time, but officers asked the suspect to leave the area.”There is nothing for us to gain from giving anonymous information to criminals in the first place, and we would never even think of putting a citizen’s life in danger, this is the opposite of what we do.”Vermaak also stated that they had received many tip-offs regarding the premises concerned on Beatrice Street.”We are always receiving tip-offs about this property and drug activity surrounding it, and in fact, we conduct numerous operations to arrest individuals on a very regular basis. “I would like to ensure the public that if they report a crime anonymously, their anonymity will be protected, and also make sure that you make it explicitly clear that you wish to remain anonymous.”
He further encouraged the community to continue to report crimes so the police could ‘do something about them’.
