Melissa Fowler, Diep River
My mother lives in Diep River on a piece of property that borders the railway line.
Property owners bordering the railway are used to a constant plague of break-ins from vagrants and criminal elements crossing the railway line.
After several break-ins in the past two years she opted for 24-hour surveillance cameras that record 30-day footage covering the border between the railway line and her property. Within four days, the cameras were stolen and the installation setup destroyed.
The case was reported to Diep River police on Friday January 19. The footage capturing the thief red-handed was handed to the police on Tuesday January 23.
The thief is a known 22 year old petty criminal, from Plumstead whose father is a retired police officer.
My mom, supplied the police with the hard evidence in the form of the video footage recorded by the CCTV cameras.
Two informants identified the perpetrator in front of the two police officers. To date, nothing has come of the incident.
There have been countless phone calls to the police station and many excuses but nothing has happened. The criminal was sighted over the weekend lounging under the bridge, but when my mom phoned the police to tell them to go and arrest him, she was informed that the investigating officer had the weekend off and she could phone back on Monday.
Prospective criminals, take note that you have carte blanche over the weekends as no one is going to investigate your criminal activities.
The case was basically handed to the police on a silver platter. All they need to do is their job… arresting a criminal. It seems that even this is too much to ask.
* Diep River police spokesperson Captain Zak Marais says they are investigating all leads pertaining to the case and complaints or compliments can be sent to acting station commander. Captain Ansley Jacobs, on 021 710 7301 or diepriversaps@saps.gov.za
