By Naadiya Adams

With the festive season in our midst and many South Africans heading to various parts of the country, despite the health crisis, home security becomes a concern.

Conrad Gouws, a former police officer and security manager at Tsogo Sun while speaking to Radio Islam, says there are various precautions one can take to ensure a degree of security in their homes.

“Test your alarm, see that is effective and that all areas are covered as specified by your security company… further than that, electric fence, CCTV just remember that there’s a misconception that if you have CCTV its an effective deterrent, this unfortunately is not true. CCTV are only effective if they monitored, so you either need connect an alarm to your CCTV which is triggered by movement etc. or you have to install an app where you can watch your CCTV remotely, otherwise its just a camera,” says Gouws.

Gouws says its also important to ensure the energizers on electric fences are running properly and there are no obstructions on the fence itself.

He also advises that false alarms be avoided as it negatively impacts response times by security companies.

Gouws warns that criminals tend to watch your movements, he advises not to make your holiday plans public and to pack vehicles and leave homes very discreetly. It’s also important to let your security company know that you will be away, should there be someone house sitting for you, they should be informed of that as well.

“If you do have someone who’s going to housesit, ask the person to come at different times.”

Foregoing the routine will go a long way in deterring perpetrators who try to map your movements say Gouws. As criminals tend to gauge if a house is empty based on a pile of letters in the post box, have the house sitter clean out the post box and switch on different lights when they visit.

According to Gouws crime rises ahead of the festive season for two reasons, one being the high unemployment rate and second being people’s need to buy gifts and enjoy the festive season – while not necessarily being able to afford to- resulting in a spike in crime over this period.

Be vigilant, be smart, be discreet and do all your checks, that is the advice given from Gouws.

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE: