Vigilant reaction officer busts burglar in Crestholme Blue Zone

Proactive policing by a Blue Security armed response officer led to the arrest of an alleged thief in Crestholme yesterday.
Blue Security community and media liaison officer Andreas Mathios said the officer was patrolling the neighbourhood in the vicinity of Crestholme Drive when he spotted two suspicious individuals walking along the road. The incident occurred at around 12.30pm.
“Our armed response officer spotted the two suspects and noticed that they were carrying some items. He approached the suspects to investigate and they immediately dropped the goods and some tools that they were carrying, and turned and fled the scene in different directions,” he said.
“Our officer gave chase and managed to apprehend one of the suspects in Crestholme Drive. Upon further investigation, it was established that an incident of theft had occurred in the same road just a bit earlier in the day. The home owner positively identified the recovered items which were handed back to him at the scene,” Mathios said. “The suspects had earlier allegedly stolen the tools from a motor vehicle at the property.”
A member of the Crestholme Neighbourhood Watch group attended the scene of the crime along with members of the Hillcrest SAPS.
The suspect was handed over to the police the scene of the crime. The second suspect remains at large.
Mathios commended the officer for his vigilance and proactive action which led to the arrest. “We are committed to proactively policing the neighbourhoods that we serve. We believe that this has the impact of sending a strong message to criminals that crime will not be tolerated in our Blue Zones, making it more difficult for suspects to evade detection in the event of an incident.”
“We urge residents to also be vigilant in reporting any suspicious activity in their neighbourhoods and to be firm about opening up cases against suspects for lower degree crimes, like vandalism and theft, as these crimes can eventually escalate to more serious crimes such as housebreaking and robbery,” he said.