Centurion residents were on Saturday taught about how to avoid becoming victims of hijackings in driveways.
This was during a workshop at Laerskool Louis Leipoldt in Lyttelton, where former police officer Richard Brussow spoke to them about prevention of crimes such as hijacking and robbery.
Brussow, who established the National Hijack Prevention Academy in 2001, said 68% of hijackings happened in driveways and could be avoided.
He has more than 15 years of experience in motor vehicle crime investigation, organized crime, motor vehicle theft, metro police crime prevention, and vehicle tracking.
Brussow educated his audience about tricks used by hijackers, their motivation, factors that lead to attacks and categories of hijacked vehicles.
Robbers liked using service stations as a base to prey on unsuspecting victims, he said. Once they had identified their victims they drove behind them until they arrived home.
Brussow advised motorists to always look at the car behind them to prevent the crime.
Those in attendance were also warned against inviting potential car buyers to their homes after they had advertised them online.
Rather, Brussow said, ask to meet them at a service station where there were CCTV cameras. He said sellers ought to carefully examine the buyers’ driving licenses to check if they were not fake.
They also needed to guard against receiving counterfeit cash from unscrupulous buyers.
Motorists must also be aware of a technique where criminals bumped into cars during rush hour with the intention to get them out of their vehicles, where they would be robbed. However, he said the technique was well known.
Robbers had slightly changed it by sending female drivers to bump into cars, hoping that drivers wouldn’t be scared to stop for inspecting the extent of the damage. “Just get a number plate and drive off,” warned Brussow.
-Pretoria News
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