Cape Town - Cape Town law enforcement recorded more than 12 000 arrests in just one year.
Safety and security Mayco member JP Smith said this was a massive increase compared with previous periods, which tracks with the increased number of officers on the ground, and the impact of the Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (Leap).
The statistics show that the increase was a whopping 50% compared with July 2021 to June 2022.
“The City’s law enforcement department made 12 069 arrests between July 2022 and June 2023. In addition to the arrests, which represent an 89% increase compared to the previous year, the City’s law enforcement officers also recovered 168 firearms and 120 imitation firearms, 2 188 rounds of ammunition, 35 858 units of drugs and issued 289 701 fines and compliance notices.
“These are but a few statistical indicators of the work that our law enforcement department gets through in a year. Add to that an average of nearly 24 000 service requests each month, and it becomes clear just how mammoth the workload is.”
Smith explained that they have a number of specialised units within the department, and it is not always possible to reflect on the contribution of each unit individually.
“I commend the staff for these operational results. There are so many demands on our enforcement agencies, and it is not always plain sailing, but it is important to acknowledge their efforts.
“While our weekly reporting on statistics gives the public real-time insights into our operations, this annual view is a very important step to providing a more complete picture,” he added.
Smith said the law enforcement department had a staff complement of just more than 3 500.
“Law enforcement officers have the power to confiscate, arrest, issue compliance notices and fines, and shut down illegal operations where by-laws are infringed upon.
“They also support the SAPS in terms of crime prevention, along with the City’s other enforcement agencies. In addition, the department recruited and trained 81 new law enforcement volunteers in the last financial year.
“We continue to invest in our enforcement services, both the human resources, but also ongoing training and development, as well as the accompanying technology rollout to further expand our impact on the ground.
“The statistics show the return on these ongoing investments, but we are mindful of the many ongoing challenges in the enforcement environment, and so we are constantly looking to further improve our outputs,” he concluded.