The value of correct and active patrolling techniques by well trained members in combating crime

From the book “Home Invasion” by Dr Rudolph Zinn 2010

“During interviews with 30 convicted house robbers, Dr Zinn asked the respondents an open-ended question about what they considered to be effective measures for police to take in combating house robbery.

The majority of the responses (68%) advises the police to conduct more regular patrols and search suspicious-looking people.

These responses can be summarised as follows:

• The police should have high visibility in a neighbourhood through regular patrols. According to one respondent “when police are visible in an area it makes criminals to become scared”.
• The number and regularity of patrols should be increased, especially at the times of day when house robberies usually occur – see table below – and particularly in affluent areas. The coverage of the area should be more systematic and intensive with more than one vehicle patrolling at a time, and some officers patrolling on foot.
• Patrolling police officials should keep a lookout for suspicious-looking people and motor vehicles, and stop and search them. One respondent said if he had been stopped on the way to the targeted house by a police officer, he would have left the area.
• Police patrols should check for objects or markers that robbers or burglars may have used to monitor whether people are entering or leaving the house. ***see note below
• One respondent suggested that the number of patrols in high crime areas should be increased by using soldiers. (Author’s note: In my view this is not very practical – increased patrols by well-trained members of a neigbourhood watch or guards from a security company would be more realistic.)

***NOTE – according to interviews held by Dr Zinn with 30 incarcerated house robbers, the majority – 80% – said they had never heard of house robbers, whether in towns or on farms, marking a house before a robbery. P22, P23″

Table – times at which house robberies occurred:

0 – 5%

1am – 2am
3am – 4am
5am – 6am
6am – 7am
8am – 9am
10am – 11am
11am – 12pm
3pm – 4pm
6pm – 7pm

5 – 10%

9am – 10am
8pm – 9pm
10pm – 11pm

10 – 15%

9pm – 10pm
11pm – 12pm

20 – 25%

7pm – 8pm

Summary

A couple of very important points can be gathered from the feedback given by convicted house robbers, it being first hand information that can be used to aid communities in combating crime in their areas of residence:

• Whilst house robberies clearly can happen at any time, day or night, the highest incidences seem to occur between 9 and 10pm and 11pm and 12pm at night, and the highest amount of incidents occur between 7 and 8pm at night.
• The feedback as received directly from convicted house robbers very clearly underscores the value of effective patrolling by well trained members.

Clearly it is impossible for the SAPS to manage such effective patrols due to lack of manpower. Also, not very many security companies have the manpower and/or the correct skill set to be able to do such effective patrols that it can be counted as an effective counter measure to crime. Generally speaking, the Police and security companies act in a reaction role much more than a pro-active role.

As such, the task to provide this “first line of defence” via CPF or farm patrolling groups falls mainly to communities themselves.

Fortis – assisting communities with extremely effective patrolling

Fortis has the skill and know-how to assist communities with training to allow for:

• extremely effective patrolling structures and techniques
• effective patrolling co-ordination
• correct intelligence gathering and refining as well as passing of information to other organizations as and where applicable, such as SAPS, involved agricultural organizations, other farmers associations etceffective management of intellegence
• safe confrontation techniques within parameters of the law
• area domination techniques

Contact us TODAY to discuss your safety and security issues and start becoming pro-active in your approach!