The sharp increase in car theft and in Brackenfell can be ascribed to several factors according to Brackenfell police station commander Col Jakobus Marthinus.
This crime trend increased with 36% in the last crime quarter between January and March this year.
During this period, 26 cars were stolen.
“The hard reality is that crime has become part of our lives, and that no one is immune to the threat of the criminals who walk our streets, says Marthinus.
According to him there are many obstacles in some areas of Brackenfell that promote the above crimes.
“There are too many entry and exit points, poor lighting and CCTV systems, coupled with limited or no security measures or products.
“This makes the location convenient for criminals. In many cases the thief is familiar with the target,” he says.
Organised crime groups
Moreover, there are no tracking systems in motor vehicles, motorbikes and trucks and new devices are available to override alarm and computer systems of vehicles, according to Marthinus.
According to him the theft of motor vehicles is motivated by financial gain in exporting and selling vehicles or chopping it up to sell the parts.
For this there is a demand for certain types of vehicles.
Organised crime groups also use stolen vehicles to commit other crimes.
“Apart from vehicles stolen for export, these unrecovered cars are given a new ‘identity’ and sold on the domestic market. Sometimes it is kept by the thief, or taken for joyrides and then torched afterwards or abandoned,” he says.
In some cases the owner arranges for the car to be stolen in order to fraudulently collect insurance money.
“Vehicle crime is a market related crime and perpetrators contaminate vehicle identification numbers and vehicle documentation, and manipulate vehicle information related computer systems in order to misappropriate vehicles,” he says.
