Today Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and Alderman JP Smith Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security visited the Ndabeni training facility of the Metro Police Training College to check on the current intake of recruits, which began their training in January this year and are expected to complete by 11 December 2022

Over the next 3 years R66m has been budgeted for expanding the City’s law enforcement training college to produce even more well-trained officers, across Metro Police, Law Enforcement and Traffic Services.

‘This budget allocation includes the recruitment of 25 additional training staff to deliver on the expanded training needs of the City’s policing departments. We are also in the process of constructing a new training facility at Muizenberg Training College. National government’s failure of policing leadership is evident in the chronic under-resourcing of the South African Police Services (SAPS) in the Western Cape and in the Cape Town metro. In the City of Cape Town, we are building our municipal police into a proper crime-fighting force. We are doing everything we can within our limited resources and ability to make residents safer,’ said Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.

The Metro Police training facility in Observatory has limited capacity, and unable to meet the growing training needs.

Additional training venues have been identified to supplement Lakeside, Muizenberg, Ndabeni, Chrysalis Academy and other facilities.

This financial year R15 million has been made available to capacitate growing training needs.

The funding has enabled the start of recruiting 16 facilitators, including a Superintendent, staff responsible for curriculum development, monitoring and other key roles.

The appointment of a Superintendent has been finalised, and the successful candidate assumed duty on 1stOctober.

‘Our Metro Police Training College has over years received various forms of national and international accreditation and has risen to become the number one municipal training institution for the security sector in South Africa. The college has been instrumental in helping pioneer several initiatives over the years, including the first law enforcement volunteer service in South Africa and most recently, training the officers for Cape Town’s own dedicated Highway Patrol Unit. As we increasingly find ourselves having to step further into the role of public policing, the Metro Police Training College helps ensure our members are always trained, fit for purpose and ready to deliver a world class policing service,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.

At the college, the officers are trained in:

*Various national Acts relating to enforcement and policing activities including the Criminal Procedure Act, the National Land Transportation Act and the National Road Traffic Act

*Incident management and response

*Crime scene management and evidence collection

*Statement writing and docket completion

*Defensive driving and tactical vehicle stops

* Tactical awareness training for operational activities

*Search and Arrest procedures with Constitutional compliance

*Specialized skills and additional training modules where required

In addition to the general training times, night school training is also available for Law Enforcement volunteers which allow for opportunities to equip participants with knowledge and specialised skills in crime prevention. The City’s Safety and Security Directorate is on-track to increase the training capacity at the college to at least 200 volunteers on an annual basis.

The City is continuing to invest in increasing safety and visible policing for all residents.

This past week, our traffic services saw the activation of the City’s 24-hour Highway Patrol Unit. This R35 million new unit will improve traffic service, reduce fatalities, and ensure that law and order is maintained on our roads. All the officers recruited for this new unit were graduates of the Metro Police Training College. The first vehicles and officers were recently deployed and the unit is expected to expand even further over the next financial year.

In August this year we welcomed the deployment of 100 Law Enforcement officers to the Cape Town CBD on a 24-hour basis.

Source: City Of Cape Town