The year started on a good note for local security teams, with two incidents in and around Hermanus.

“I think we all need good news these days, and it was certainly a welcome bit of news when we heard about the successes of our colleagues. It shows we are off to a good start for 2021 and we are ready to keep the people of this beautiful town safe,” says Marius Boshoff, Hermanus branch manager for Fidelity ADT.

The incidents involved officers of Hermanus Public Protection (HPP), which is a ratepayer funded initiative in partnership with Fidelity ADT. The cases involved incidents of alleged housebreaking, theft and the possession of stolen goods.

In the first incident, which took place in Sandbaai earlier this month, HPP’s CCTV operators spotted a suspect walking towards the area just after midnight. The man was carrying a bag with him which further raised the suspicion of the operators.

“We have trained our CCTV operators to be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary, and to then respond. The town – along with the rest of the country – is still under a lockdown curfew, so the operators were immediately suspicious as to why this person was outdoors at that time of night.  They alerted various security & law enforcement rollplayers in the area and gave them the description and location of the suspect,” says Boshoff.

The suspect was successfully located in Retief Street and searched. Several items normally used in housebreaking were found in his possession, and he was handed over to the Hermanus SAPS for questioning.

In the second case, says Boshoff, they received a call from a member of the public describing a suspicious person walking along Canterbury Street.

“One of the HPP Specialised Response Units was dispatched to investigate and quickly managed to stop the suspect in Rocklands Street. The suspect was searched and suspected stolen property was found in his possession.”

Boshoff says the suspect claimed that he had found the two tills and a printer where it was dumped outside a local restaurant, but the owner of the restaurant in question later confirmed that the items were in fact stolen.

“This suspect was taken into custody by Hermanus SAPS on a charge of theft. Well done to the teams for their successes so far, this month, and we wish them all the best for the year ahead.”