In the past five years, the Department has gone from just under 1 000 arrests in a financial year, to just shy of 3 000. Read more below:
The City of Cape Town’s Law Enforcement Department has increased its contribution to crime fighting efforts, with notable increases in arrests over the last five years.
A comparison of arrest data over the period shows that the department more than tripled the number of arrests between 2016/17 and the 2020/21 financial year.
The Law Enforcement Department’s primary responsibility is to enforce the City’s by-laws and traffic laws. Officers have the power to confiscate, arrest, issue compliance notices and fines, and shut down illegal operations where by-laws are infringed upon.
The department also acts in support of the South African Police Service around crime prevention.
‘The increase in arrests reflects the investment that the City has made in its Law Enforcement Department over the past five years, but also the increasing requirement on Law Enforcement to take up the crime prevention role and deal with serious and violent crime. This could be seen most clearly by the fact that the City was able to confiscate nearly 20 illegal firearms in one month, most of this by Law Enforcement. That investment was further accelerated, courtesy of the Law Enforcement Advancement Plan, in partnership with the Western Cape Government.
‘However, we have also been able to invest in the department as a whole, whether through specialised units dealing with issues like metal theft, liquor enforcement, marine matters and rural safety, among others, but also our Law Enforcement volunteers who have been making a valuable contribution to our overall efforts. Add to that the benefit we’ve derived from the experience that staff gain with time in their respective areas, and the increased successes make perfect sense. Just recently, 31 staff members received their epaulettes at a socially distanced ceremony after moving up the ranks (pictured). This is no mean feat, and I think it’s important to recognise and acknowledge their efforts,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.
In the last financial year, Law Enforcement staff made 2 968 arrests. Approximately 50% were related to the possession of or dealing in, illicit substances.
A breakdown of other arrests includes numerous serious crime categories, like murder, assault, sexual assault, firearm-related and cable theft.
Among the items confiscated in the last financial year, were:
54 firearms
2 160 kilograms of stolen cable and metal
17 314,46 litres of alcohol
91 vehicles used in illegal dumping
Staff also closed 155 illegal liquor premises, and attended to 684 protests and 993 illegal land invasions.
‘The statistics are testament to the hard work of our staff, under tremendously difficult circumstances. Over and above their normal duties, staff have also been tasked with helping to enforce lockdown regulations amid the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, not only from an enforcement perspective, but also the toll that the virus has taken on our services. Numerous staff members in our frontline services have been side-lined through illness or quarantine over the past 18 months, and we have also lost several members to Covid-19. It has been a torrid time, and so to have the type of results that staff have delivered in spite of the challenges, fills one with immense pride.’
‘It also demonstrates the outcomes of the investments in training, the partnership with international law enforcement agencies and the training and expertise they offered, the investment in technology, improved command and control through effective senior management and the measures introduced to achieve transparency and accountability, through for example, the EPIC computer aided dispatching system the City built,’ added Alderman Smith.
Source: City Of Cape Town