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The Safety and Security Portfolio Committee commended the enforcement successes of the directorate and discussed the many challenges in creating a safer environment by improving service delivery during the monthly meeting last week. The draft Continuous Improvement Strategy was also tabled at the meeting. Read more below:

The City’s Safety and Security Directorate operate in a dynamic and fast changing environment  to effectively deliver crime prevention services in communities. To create an even safer  environment, the directorate is constantly implementing measures to further improve safety. 

In light of this, the committee discussed and approved the Safety and Security Directorate Continuous Improvement Strategy that aims to deliver a high level of service.  Given the many challenges within the enforcement environment, the strategy will guide high level skills development,  expand the use of technology such as CCTV, drones, body and dash cams and other specialised units. Working with other enforcement agencies and supporting the South African Police Service, the directorate will further enhance crime prevention on a wider front. 

One of the key components of capacity building is to enhance training so as to ensure that all staff members are able to perform their functions at levels that exceed public expectations.

The directorate therefore plans to  introduce service improvement interventions at the training colleges responsible for the training of officers of the Traffic Service, Metro Police and  Law Enforcement Departments as well as the Fire & Rescue Service. Interventions will include the recruitment of additional trainers to ensure that the training colleges operate at full capacity and  delivers on all the training needs of the City's policing and emergency services departments.

The committee also commended the many weekly successes of the enforcement departments. Last week, the Traffic Service, Law Enforcement and Metro Police Departments arrested 396 suspects on various charges. 

The City’s Public Emergency and Communication Centre (PECC) plays an important role in recording emergency calls and relaying information to the various services so that officers can act swiftly and attend to an incident. The PECC often experiences high call volumes over weekends. In one such instance, call agents logged 2 671 calls over the long weekend of 22 – 25 September 2023.

Between July 2022 and June 2023, Law Enforcement officers recovered 168 firearms with 2 188 rounds of ammunition and arrested more than 12 000 suspects on various charges. 

‘The Safety and Security Portfolio Committee note the excellent work done by our enforcement officers in often extremely difficult and dangerous situations. The committee will continue to support our departments and will provide officers with the best possible equipment within available budget. Officers should also be allowed the opportunity to go for training to improve their skills and keep abreast of the latest technological developments in the crime prevention environment. We would like to commend all our officers for their commitment and dedication in assisting with building safer communities,’ said the Chairperson of the Safety and Security Portfolio Committee, Councillor Mzwakhe Nqavashe.

Issued by The City of Cape Town