Hercules Police and CPF warn residents about rubbish bin theft
"Residents must please identify their bins by street names and house numbers."
Hercules CPF and Hercules police have asked residents to mark their rubbish bins because criminals are now using them to cart around goods stolen in the area.
“It is difficult for us to see whether a bin has been stolen or not if it is not marked,” said police spokesperson Captain Bonginkosi Msimango.
“Residents should mark their bins with their street names and house numbers because someone from Mountain View cannot be pushing around a bin marked as being from Mountain View in Pretoria Gardens.
This makes it easier for us to see whether the bins were stolen.”
Secretary of the Hercules CPF, Johan Cloete, said the stealing of bins in the area has been a problem for “a while” now.
Cloete said the criminals use the dustbins to climb over the wall to access residents’ yards.
“After stealing from houses, thieves would then use the rubbish bin to load the stolen properties into it.”
Cloete said despite some residents marking their bins, criminals continued to steal them.
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“Some residents mark their bins, but the criminals would simply wipe off what has been written on them.”
He said the CPF has also noticed an increase in the theft of water meters around the area.
“We think they might be stealing the meters for scrap metal because they are made of brass.”
Cloete encouraged residents to report rubbish bin thefts to the police.
“They will get a case number so they can also report it to the municipality.”
Msimango also warned residents to be extra careful “as we are approaching the festive season”.
“Usually criminals are very active at this time of the year. We want to warn our residents to be extra careful about crimes such as theft of motor vehicles, robberies and house robberies.”
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