A vehicle tracking company has reported a growing trend of hijackers moving from driveways into the homes of their victims.
|||A vehicle tracking company has reported a growing trend of hijackers moving from driveways into the homes of their victims with armed robberies and assaults.
“It seems that hijackers’ shopping lists are getting longer and that driveway hijackings are making way for more aggressive and violent attacks at home,” Cartrack SA’s operations manager, Jerry Pierce, said.
“The trio crimes – assault, armed robbery and hijacking/vehicle theft – are being plied behind high suburban walls and indoors where criminals run less risk of being spotted or interrupted, and where victims are less security conscious and likely to be softer targets.”
Cartrack says statistics show that most of these attacks take place on Friday and Saturday nights. He says victims are usually attacked after dining out at restaurants, visiting shopping centres, banks, convenience stores or filling up at petrol stations as hijackers and thieves often survey these areas to spot their targets.
Pierce said many of these cases involved collusion with domestic workers and gardeners, or intimidation of people who have information the criminals want.
“Even if not voluntary collusion, domestic workers often face untold intimidation and threats of extreme violence to themselves and their families if they fail to comply with these criminals,” Pierce said.
“The growing sophistication in terms of the technology employed by criminals as well as the escalating violence involved with such attacks, with the benefit of time on their side, demands that South Africans employ a more seamless approach to their vehicle and household safety.”
Pierce advises having protocols for getting from the car to the house, including stringent security checks and a practical plan of what to do if attacked.
“In managing risk, consumers need to look at a seamless integration between vehicle and household safety. While vehicle theft and hijacking stats are still very high and a sobering reality of suburban life, we see the growing threat of ‘trio crimes’ of armed robbery, hijacking/theft and assault as deeply concerning and one that requires a more collaborative approach to crime prevention and apprehension of criminals.” - The Star