FRONT door kickers are back in town.
There has been a reported surge in a trend where criminals are targeting Nelson Mandela Bay homes with weak gates and front doors.
Atlas Security operations manager Monty Montgomery said that recent instances where front doors and gates were kicked in were on the increase.
According to Je Taime Edgar, public relations officer of Atlas, these front door burglaries were not area-bound. “The criminals are constantly moving around.
“They jump from one policed area to another with more than one burglary per area per day. Monty (Montgomery) finds that there are normally between four to eight a day.
“They would strike in Uitenhage and Despatch first before entering Port Elizabeth. Or vice versa. This all happens very quickly and we are amazed at how quickly plasma TVs disappear,” Edgar said.
Montgomery advised members of the community to try to prevent criminals from entering their homes by means of security measures, such as sturdier gates or bolstering their front door with extra locks. These will decrease the likelihood of the home being a target.
“This will create less leverage for the criminals to be able to kick down the door,” said Montgomery.
Police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg could not confirm that there has been an increase in such crimes.
