Grahamstown police have called on members of the community to alert them to crime hotspots, as a recent attempted mugging in the city centre highlighted an apparent increase in such attacks.
Grahamstown police have called on members of the community to alert them to crime hotspots, as a recent attempted mugging in the city centre highlighted an apparent increase in such attacks.
A woman who witnessed an attempted mugging just outside the Grocott's Mail offices on Friday said the crime was becoming more frequent, and warned that elderly women shopping alone were a favoured target. "I know these boys. They walk in pairs doing this," she said.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said the youths usually opened the purses of their unsuspecting victims as they walked, before following them to finish off their mission. "Most of the victims are vulnerable old women who make the mistake of shopping on their own on busy pay days," said our source, suggesting that the elderly should not do their shopping alone.
She said muggings usually took place on the 15th, 20th and 25th of the month. Month-end, and soon after, when the elderly were paid their pensions, was also a favoured time for muggings. Another source, who also requested anonymity, didn't mince his words about what he perceived to be police inefficiency.
"The thing about our police here in Makana is that they seem to patrol at night only, and during weekends. "But what they fail to understand is that muggings happen in broad daylight, especially in overcrowded places, such as just outside Clicks [in High Street], where vulnerable old folks shop."
Police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender said they relied on information from the community. "The biggest problem about our community is that they expect that the police will just be anywhere at any given time," Govender said. "That's understandable and, yes, the police have to do their job.
But the community must understand that we deploy the police based on need, and the need must arise from people telling us where these things take place." Govender said if a crime wasn't reported, it was difficult for them to deploy officers to the spot. She said, "Our police work in different places, from the township to the farms and then of course here in town. At any given time, there are two police cars patrolling in these places."
Govender said the Grahamstown police service had a staff compliment of 281 permanent people, including not only police officers, but also other sectors in the service, such as human resources and communications. She said the community needed to work closely with the police, alerting them to hotspots, so more police could be deployed there.
