September 2009

As can be seen in this sequence of pictures, moments after the angle grinder makes contact with the Drop Safe a colour smoke dye cartridge fitted inside the safe is activated.

While cash heists capture the headlines on TV and in newspapers around the country, a quieter, more insidious war is being waged by latter day highway men against the transport and distribution industry.

The targets on this second front are delivery trucks, the bread van delivering bread and rolls to your local spaza or corner café, beer and soft drink trucks, newspaper delivery vehicles and, in fact, just about any vehicle in which the driver picks up cash for goods and services delivered.

The amount of cash these vehicles carry at any particular time may be light years away from that transported by the cash in transit vans but it is enough to attract the attention of armed bandits.

Despite the efforts being made by law enforcement agencies to convince the general public (and overseas investors) that they have crime under control, armed robberies and vehicle hijackings are escalating at an alarming rate.

With this in mind it makes obvious sense for companies to be proactive and improve the security of their vehicles, drivers and the goods being transported, in this instance, cash.

Armour plating and armed guards go some way in preventing thieves and hijackers from gaining access to the cash but, as the experiences of the last few years have borne out, cash-in-transit vans remain a choice target for criminals.

Comparatively speaking, delivery trucks are a soft target. Quite often the driver works alone and is unarmed but even if he were to be supported by an assistant or two, he remains totally out gunned.

The solution to this particular problem came in the form of a range of high security on-board vehicle drop safes produced by Boksburg-based, vehicle security management company, Safe Case Corporation.

The safes which are easily fitted into a vehicle have a tumble hatch which prevents the money being removed and a seven lever lock. Padlock fittings on the door provide extra security.

Further to this, for added protection all the safes can be fitted with a colour smoke dye which, when activated, stains the money rendering it worthless.

Safe Case CEO Clark Rossilien says in most incidences of cash in transit theft, drop safes are opened with angle grinders or cutting torches or by removing the entire floorboard of the vehicle including the safe.

“Our drop safe will not allow this,” Rossilien says, “at the first sign of tampering a colour smoke device fitted inside the safe is activated, permanently staining the money while the billowing smoke pouring out of the safe stains the criminals and attracts a great deal of unwanted attention.”

Rossilien says the stained banknotes cannot be cleaned by any known method and are, for all intents and purposes, useless. “Fortunately for our clients, Safe Case has made an arrangement with the Reserve Bank where the colour stained money can be exchanged which eliminates delays while waiting for payment from insurance companies.”

As anyone involved in the security industry will tell you, the only way to test a bullet proof vest is to fire a bullet at it. If you are wearing one at the time you'd better hope, or perhaps pray, the supplier knew what he was doing when he designed the thing.

With this thought in mind the obvious question to put to Rossilien is: do Safe Case’s drop safes really work? How effective are they?

Rossilien reports that in one particular instance a baker in Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal, had been experiencing a series of robberies and hijackings but after the installation of the Drop Safe the robberies reduced by 98%.

Rossilien showed FleetWatch similar reports and written testimonials from a number of companies including NND, Highveld Bottling and Blinkwater Meule, among others.

Interestingly enough, Highveld Bottling report that since the installation of the drop safes in its delivery fleet they have not experienced a single robbery or an attempt at hijacking the vehicles.

While Highveld Bottling attribute this decline to the installation of the drop safes into the fleet how would a thief or hijacker know the company’s trucks are fitted with drop safes and decide not to even attempt a break in?

Be that it may, the Safe Case drop safes come in various sizes and can be installed within an hour. Principal advantages of the Drop Safe are low maintenance and cost effectiveness. The battery used to power the smoke dye system last up to 15 years before they need replacing.