Another week has passed by and even more crime in the Laudium area has been reported. Clearly, the common petty crime which has been on the increase over the past year, seemingly committed mostly by nyaopes, has during the past few months, been overtaken by more serious crimes as the festive season draws closer.
However, to date, police have yet to take the community into their confidence as partners in fighting crime, as to why crime is not being effectively curbed in the area. Without obviously revealing details of crime combatting operations, the local police, for example, have not addressed the community through the CPF, as to how many patrol vehicles are on the streets of Laudium and how many are at garages waiting to be repaired, or what is the ratio shortage of manpower at the Laudium Police Station. Businesses, which also continue to be the target of thieves, are also kept in the dark by local police, concerning crime trends in the area. In one the latest incidents of crime against businesses, a local business has once more became a target of thieves in a short space of time. Vijay Tanna, the manager at Jyoti Foods on Emerald Street, Laudium, told the Laudium Sun, that all was fine when he left his business last Wednesday (Nov 24) evening. Vijay explained further, “I have a tenant who lives on the same property where my shop is situated, on Emerald Street. Whilst I was at home on Thursday morning, I got a call at around 7am from the tenant, who told me that she noticed that the inside lights of the shop were switched on when she went to take her dustbin outside the yard. She enquired from me if someone was working inside, as she had also noticed that the gate leading to the shop was open. I immediately became suspicious, as we have been victims of crime before, so I told her not to go inside the shop nor even touch the gate. I immediately rushed to my shop and there, as expected, I discovered that our shop had been burgled. The thieves stole the cash register which had petty cash in it. A PC tablet which we left in the shop, together with grocery items were also stolen. When I checked, I realized that the thieves had broken the front gate and then broken the front door to gain entry. We are not a big business and we don’t even have insurance for our shop. So, this theft has set us back financially, more so as business is also slow these days. My daughter went to the police station to open a case, but the police did not even come and take any fingerprints nor question the neighbours to check if they saw anything. I just hope that the police can understand how badly this crime is affecting businesses in Laudium. We need the police to increase night patrols and no one should be allowed on the streets during curfew hours. There should also be proper checks for people walking the streets late evenings and early mornings. We are faced by way too many crime incidents to just ignore this trend. This is the livelihood of people, through hard earned work and it is so unfair that some crooks can just come and live off our hard earned money.”
Sergeant Simon Chokoe, of the Laudium SAPS, said, “A case of business burglary has been opened and the investigation is under way. No arrests have been made yet. The police have been increasing their efforts to be more visible on the streets of Laudium and surroundings, and the community must assist if they see any suspicious persons or items, so the police can swiftly act before any crime takes place.”
