Metro police working with SAPS to make Cape Town a safe city for all

THECITY of Cape Town is committed to doing everything we can to make this a safe city for all the people who live here.

Our metro police form part of a local government department that provides critical support to the primary law enforcement agency, the SAPS.

The Cape Town Metropolitan Police Department’s mandate is multifaceted and includes traffic policing, by-law enforcement and crime prevention.

Since being established the department has grown to include about 700 members, some of whom work in dedicated units including the K9, substance abuse, camera response, and gang units.

The metro police’s primary mandate is to enforce the city’s by-laws and assist Cape Town Traffic Services with visible patrols and enforcement. It is further mandated to do crime prevention operations in support of the SAPS, who are the lead agency in this regard.

It is important to note, however, that metro police do not have the power to investigate crime – legally, this competency lies exclusively with SAPS.

In terms of our crime prevention support role, metro police officers conduct targeted patrols based on crime threat patterns and analysis, stop-and-search operations on suspected drug pushers and users, targeted operations on suspected drug hot spots and other high-risk areas, on their own but also in collaboration with the SAPS.

This particular aspect of the mandate has become all the more important in recent years in response to the ongoing gang violence across Cape Town.

The city takes the gang crisis very seriously and has allocated increasing resources to it, in spite of the fact that its law enforcement agencies are cast in a supporting role only to the SAPS.

In 2008/9, the city created the substance abuse unit within the metro police, followed by sniffer dogs.

Since then the following interventions, programmes, operations and units have been established: A 14-member gang unit. Deployment of neighbourhood safety officers to gang hot spots.

Deployment of school resource officers to six pilot schools plagued by gang violence.

Metro police youth academy and youth camps.

Evictions from council-owned rental stock for drug and gang activity. Law Enforcement Auxiliary Service. Stabilisation and disruptive policing operations like Operation Choke and Operation Punch.

Joint Operations with the SAPS like Operation Sonke in the Nyanga Cluster.

Recruitment, training and resourcing of neighbourhood watch organisations.

Informant rewards for information. We are also working on gunfire detection technology for Hanover Park as part of our CCTV rollout, as well as draft legislation on the control of chemicals used in the manufacturing of drugs.

Just last year, the city’s Safety and Security Directorate deployed 109 additional officers to Manenberg at the height of the upsurge in gang violence.

Forty metro police officers, eight traffic officers and 71 law enforcement officers were involved in proactive and visible policing over a four-month period to safeguard residents and high-risk schools in particular.

Our most recent gang-oriented initiative, the Gang Task Force, has been in the pipeline since 2012. It is based on a policing response to specialised crime problems involving organised groups, such as gangs, around the world.

The metro police will continue to ensure that it renders an equitable, accessible and sustainable policing service to the community in partnership with the SAPS and other stakeholders.

Alderman Smith is mayoral committee member for safety and security, City of Cape Town. Khaya Dlanga is away.