Anne Eveleth
Local affiliates of a US-based property group have joined forces with police to fingerprint young children in schools and shopping centres around the country.
Welcomed by the South African Police Services as a “proactive measure” to help locate missing children, and lauded by the Electronic Realty Associates (ERA) as a “community service”, the programme has been met with reservations from some parents, who view it as an invasion of their children’s privacy.
Parents of Durban’s Gordon Road Girls’ School students were recently notified that ERA- affiliate Brink Property Group would arrive at their school later this month with members of the South African Police Services (SAPS) Crime Stop to fingerprint their children, providing them with an indelible identification in the event of a child going missing, and giving their children free membership to the SAPS Crime Stop Club.
Brink franchise owner Trevor Falkson said the project, called “Kinderprinting” was “one of the products ERA has introduced in South Africa and other countries to promote crime prevention and provide a community service”.
Parent Glen Frank rejected this, however, saying the fact that it was left up to the parents to notify the school principal if they did not want their child to participate had made him suspicious: “What do this property group and the police want with my seven-year-old daughter’s fingerprints?” he asked, fuming after a Brink representative allegedly told him the police would keep copies of the fingerprints.
SAPS spokesman Warrant Officer Vishnu Naidoo denied any copies would be retained by the police and stressed that participation was “purely voluntary”, adding that “fingerprints are the best way of identifying someone who has gone missing. In the event the kids go missing, the parents can bring their prints to the police.If a child has been killed it is the best way of identifying the body.”
Naidoo said the Crime Stop Club was intended to improve relations between children and the police and to educate children about crime.
Naidoo said Brink was “sponsoring” the project and said he welcomed “any group that could provide such a service”.
A spokesperson at ERA’s Pretoria headquarters, who declined to be named, said ERA’s interest in the project was “to let the community know we’re part of it”, but later admitted the property affiliates would also retain the names, addresses and other details compiled on the Crime Stop Club membership forms.
Such a list would provide the company affiliates with ready-made lists of potential clients in their
In Durban, the schools already targeted have been primarily located in wealthy suburbs.
Falkson said his franchise had already fingerprinted some 300 children, and 17 other franchises in the Durban area were also
ERA has 120 affiliates throughout South Africa.