Remain alert

With the university community concentrating on end-of-year examinations, Campus Protection Services (CPS) ask staff and students to remain alert during this quiet period.

Staff are reminded to lock their offices when leaving them (even for brief moments) and to ensure their valuables, including bags, laptops and cell phones, are locked away and not left on or underneath desks. CPS operations manager Vincent Ricketts pointed out that it is during this time that maintenance work is usually conducted on campus, sometimes requiring external contractors to complete the work. Members of staff are advised to be observant and report suspicious loiterers and unidentified workers in their departments, and to ask for identification if necessary.

"We call on staff members to inform us if loiterers are found in their buildings as we are available to investigate these instances."

Students are urged to take as little as possible into exam venues, leaving valuable items locked away at home or in the boots of their cars.

"Bags left at the back of a venue as well as those left outside are vulnerable, so try to ensure your bag is placed at the front of the venue," said Ricketts.

CPS have issued a robbery alert for those making use of mini-bus taxis following an incident where two women staff members from the Department of Communication and Development were held up at gunpoint after they entered a taxi on Main Road, opposite the Baxter Theatre.

The gunman demanded their jewellery and handbags as well as the pin numbers for their ATM cards. After they were driven from Rondebosch to Plumstead, where money was drawn from their accounts, they were dropped off at Steenberg, unhurt but shaken.

CPS suggests checking all taxis for legitimate signage, avoiding a vehicle with fewer than three people inside and having your money in your hand, ready to pay on entering the taxi.

Ricketts affirmed: "Should you become a victim of such a crime, do not resist as these criminals may be dangerous. But try to get a description of the suspects and the vehicle. Reporting the incident immediately to CPS might help to facilitate the apprehension of the suspects."