Police advise parents on safety

AS LEARNERS return to school today, parents are encouraged to implement necessary safety measures in order to protect their children from becoming targets of kidnapping.

The SAPS alerted parents on their social media to not write their children’s names on their belongings that are visible.

These include backpacks.

“Do not write your child’s name on his/her personal belongings such as a backpack where it is visible for everyone to see. Adults who prey on children have tricks to gain a child’s trust and one of these tricks is calling a child by his or her name,” read the SAPS post on Twitter.

Anti-crime activist Yusuf Abramjee advises parents to write their phone numbers instead on their children’s backpacks in case of an emergency.

He adds that it is often difficult for children to separate strangers from acquaintances, and sometimes even good guys from the bad guys.

“If an adult approaches a child and says their name, it may make the child think the person must be someone they know or their parent knows,” said Abramjee.

Several parents agreed with this but highlighted that writing their child’s name on their backpack was often a requirement from the school, forcing them to do so.

Police Minister Bheki Cele said that according to the quarterly Crime Stats, a total of 2 000 kidnapping cases were reported to the police between July and September last year.

He added that this was 28.6% more than for the same period in the year before.

The 2019/20 crime statistics showed that Kempton Park (122) occupied the top spot for the most kidnappings reported at a police station in that period, followed by Tembisa (74), Inanda in KZN (74), Randfontein (67) and Johannesburg Central (66).

Lizette Lancaster, who manages and oversees the creation of the South African Crime and Justice Information and Analysis Hub of the Institute for Security (ISS), said few crimes strike fear into South Africans as much as the kidnapping of children. She highlighted that video images of young children being grabbed by strangers fed into these concerns.

“It is important that children and guardians remain aware of the risks and how to boost their safety. South Africans can also play their part by ensuring they only share accurate information by reputable missing persons platforms. The last thing a crimeweary public and the police need is to be inundated by false reports fuelling widespread fear and panic,” she said.