POLOWKANE – “Not that we are trying to pry into your affairs, but alert trusted neighbours when you leave home”

These are the words of the Polokwane community policing forum’s coordinator Sergeant Valerie Maloba considering deplorable criminal elements that happen during the festive season.

Often, urban residential units are left with fewer people at this time of the year, as people migrate to homelands to enjoy themselves with loved ones.

Temptations weigh-in from chance-takers who potentially succeed with housebreaking if one does not alert their security services company, neighbourhood watches, and most importantly; neighbours about their unavailability.

Maloba says it is easy to spot unusual actions happening in a neighbour’s house when one is certain about the expected activities from them.

She says as much as street committees are available to monitor movements, alerting those close to you to fetch piling mail from boxes is important as it helps reduce the obviousness of people’s unavailability in their homes.

“Tsotsis are very tactical. They use little clues to trace movements and when they realise that mail has piled up in mailboxes, they are certainly going to target your house,” she remarks.

The local CPF does not encourage people to confront anyone suspected of house-breaking as it can backfire.

Rather, a suspicious movement should either be reported directly to the police or the nearest member of the forum. The challenged individual/s could retaliate harmfully causing hurt to a person, merely trying to help.

Anyone suspicious of movements before, during and after the festive season are asked to contact a member of their CPF sub-committee, or the Polokwane Police Station’s Commander, Brigadier Matome Makhura on 071 601 5195.