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Be street smart and save your life
 

By Bridget Lepere

According to the research conducted by a Local security consultant, Louis Grobler, he says pavement language is a reality. Grobler who has been researching pavement language signs for the past 20 years says he started collecting and identifying information after his parent’s home was burgled years ago.

He says the information helped him crack the code behind the language used by criminals which he has termed Eishgalo, a mixture of various languages to make one.
Random bricks and litter lying outside your house, may not necessarily have ended up there coincidentally, he says these signs are a method in which criminals communicate among themselves.
Grobler advises community members and individuals to start identifying street signs for graffiti, then everyday look along the pavement for litter. He says different objects are associated with different criminal activities. Further adding that repetitive use of the same object may be something pointing in the direction of your home, for an example a mageu or milk carton lying in front of your home would symbolise a soft target to another criminal.
He said, “I recently accompanied two homeless youths through underground storm water pipelines, the amount of graffiti I discovered was astonishing. Grobler pointed out these colour codes and danger signs as alerts to the public:
 White or cream; A white plastic bag hanging on your gate or empty carton indicates an easy target.

 Blue may symbolise that someone in the property will collaborate.

 Green may be direction indicators, empty green bottles or cans with open tops.

 Bricks are a good indication that your car will be stolen especially if the brick appears from out of the blue.

 Graffiti especially on street signs near your home may convey a message between criminals, so remove it or paint over it.

 The letter Z painted on roads or walls and small piles of rocks indicate the presence of dogs, while two large rocks indicate two elderly people and a cluster of them symbolising the number of people in the house.