Online Reporter
RELENTLESS increases in robberies from year to year, and the fact that two thirds of these occur in Harare Metropolitan, bids on businesses and households to exercise caution and take measures to minimise risks.
Criminals are becoming more daring, largely because most businesses and households have taken the modest precautions that help to thwart burglaries and opportunistic thefts, forcing criminals to either use violence or switch to the more sophisticated areas of fraud and deception.
That sees a growth in robbery and fraud cases.
Police statistics have found that what may have been an adequate deterrent in recent years, a security guard, is not much of a deterrent these days to a determined gang after a high-value target.
A solitary guard is fairly easy meat for the standard robbery gang of three or more fit criminals, especially if they have access to a firearm.
It is also obvious that robbery gangs are not just attacking at random, although some such attacks take place, but often have inside information and even an insider accomplice.
There have been cases where an insider, an employee generally, has masterminded the robbery. But usually the gang passes the word that they will pay for information and finds people ready to betray the trust of their employer.
Sometimes the inside information just arises from gossip and even boasting about what sort of money might be stashed in a house.
When someone knows someone sold a car for cash late one afternoon, for example, they might well think the money is still at the house and so mount a raid. Businesses that demand cash, and will not take electronic transfers, are also advertising themselves as an interesting target that demands further investigation.
The fact that two thirds of robberies are in Harare Metropolitan is not so much that this province, the most populous, has the largest number of robbers and robbery gangs, although that is possible.
Harare has the highest wealth concentration and the largest number of potential robbery targets, as well as the big city anonymity that allows criminals to melt into the background.
Robbers are far less keen to rob the poor, or even rob the rich who keep their money in the bank and in immovable assets or securities.
Even attacking a mansion rather than a small house would generally mean just a couple of extra appliances if the household does not keep stacks of cash on hand. After all, you cannot transport bathrooms or bedrooms in a truck or on your back.
The police do offer good advice, largely because they keep the statistics and analyse the figures, and are the ones called in when there is a robbery or theft and so the detectives build up a lot of knowledge over how criminals operate.
Sometimes they can even identify a likely gang from how a robbery has occurred and often they can see several potential leads, including insider information and accomplices.
So, for many years, the police have preached “removal of target”, that is not having stacks of cash on hand in a business safe or at home, but to take this to a bank and keeping it there. That does not mean people cannot have a few dollars in cash, as that is often usual.
But when you consider that the jail term is roughly the same for a robber who gets away with US$100 as for one who gets away with US$10 000, you can see why the little targets are ignored or at least passed by. In any case, losing US$100 is very annoying but rarely that serious a loss.
But the crime reports show that there are people who think that if they keep several thousand dollars in cash, no one will find out.
Criminals do and information is given out and sold.
In any case, the money came from somewhere so there is a trail where a talkative person can endanger those downstream.
Vehicle theft used to be a growing crime until a double attack almost eliminated this.
The Government put in place a system that a vehicle could not leave the country or be bought or sold until the police had cleared it.
Those chassis and engine numbers mean that it is easy to check a vehicle against the list of stolen vehicles so it becomes almost impossible to dispose of a stolen vehicle.
The other ground for attack came from the Judiciary which pushed up the jail sentences for car thieves.
The combination of greater difficulty in selling a stolen car, the far higher likelihood of being tracked down when the vehicle was being checked and the longer jail term all meant the crime was largely eliminated.
Cash robberies would be eliminated if people did not keep cash lying around, or even hidden around, and rather trusted the banks and electronic transfers.
Moving more decisively towards electronic transfers would also mean far less cash in transit, something that is becoming a fast growing problem.
A night guard is effective against burglars and the opportunistic criminal, but is not really effective against an armed gang, where the best that can be hoped for is that they get a warning phone call before they are forced to surrender and get tied up.
The Government has also noted the need to upgrade the security industry and better guards on average being better trained.
But the police have also noted that if there is a high value target then the guards need to be adequate in number, training and be appropriately equipped. Three guards sitting together in a room, for example, are just as easy as a single guard to overpower for an armed determined gang, hence the need for training and operational efficiency.
Other precautions such as CCTV cameras, have already proved effective in helping the police track down gangs, and the very fact that they are known to be on some premises has acted as a deterrent although some gangs might get around this.
The police have been getting better at tracking down gangs and assembling evidence to have them committed, so more are being caught and going to jail. But the police cannot be expected to end robberies alone.
The potential targets need to think and act as well.
daniel chigunwe
