One South African city building its own policing force
The City of Cape Town’s operational policing authorities should be 4,500-strong by the end of the year, according to feedback it provided to Newsday.
This follows an announcement by the Democratic Alliance (DA) of the deployment of 700 Metro Police officers in July to “plug the gap left by the South African Police Service.”
The party said that among these officers will be a dedicated team deployed to patrol the N2 highway to enhance safety.
“These Metro Police officers will play a crucial support role in gang-affected areas. The DA refuses to accept that gang violence cannot be beaten with effective policing,” it added.
One of these gang-affected areas is the Cape Flats, which is one of the most dangerous regions in South Africa.
CapeTownEtc reported in May that 90 people were killed and more than 110 injured in gang-related shootings, stabbings, and street brawls in April.
Alderman JP Smith, the City’s Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for safety and security, told Newsday that Cape Town has invested heavily in expanding its Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) programme.
“These investments have tripled our resources over the past seven years,” Smith said. “We should have close to 4500 operational staff across our Metro Police, Traffic, and Law Enforcement agencies by the beginning of September.”
However, it’s worth noting that the South African Police Service Act does not grant metros such as Cape Town the same policing powers as SAPS.
Smith said that the Metro Police only have crime prevention, traffic enforcement, and bylaw enforcement policing powers.
“SAPS can investigate all crimes, can arrest for any criminal offence, conduct forensic investigations, operate nationally and without limiting borders,” Smith said
“The City of Cape Town is fighting for more policing powers to ensure we can play a bigger role in supporting SAPS.”
However, he added that while the City is incrementally increasing the number of boots on the ground and pushing for more policing powers, it has no intention of replacing SAPS.
“Local government can’t replace the SAPS. We depend on a functioning Police service to solve the problem of gangsterism and a whole-of-society approach from non-safety-related departments.”
Project 1,000
The DA announced “Project 1,000” in August 2024, aiming to train 1,000 candidates to grow its municipal force over time to help SAPS fight crime, following on from its LEAD programme.
According to the party, the programme, which it funded with R35 million, is 18 months long and includes physical training, training on legislation, theory, and practical training, among other things.
“They’ll be in training for 18 months and then they’ll be in in-service training for another 18 months,” Smith previously told the SABC.
This is the most progressive and extensive investment into training that we have made. This is because it is four times larger than our training college previously could handle.”
Smith added that the City has also invested more in the education technology used for training and that there is a significant emphasis on physical fitness and fitness for purpose.
The City is also increasingly pushing its graduate and post-graduate courses to encourage members to further qualify themselves above the minimum needed for the job.
While operating within the constraints of a municipal police force, Cape Town’s Metro Police Department has several specialised units.
This includes a canine unit, predominantly used to combat the illicit drug trade in the city, and an Equestrian Unit.
The City’s Strategic Surveillance Unit monitors 560 cameras throughout the city 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, working closely with a response team to report crime, bylaw and traffic infringements, and fires.
Cape Town’s Gang Unit comprises several hand-picked Metro Police officers who work on gang-related issues in the Cape Flats, such as identifying gang and drug hotspots, and building profiles of gangs and drug dealers.
The Metro Police has also established a Tactical Response Unit that responds to violent crime, and a Substance Abuse Enforcement Unit tasked with helping to combat the illicit drug trade.
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The success of the CoCT Metro Police depends heavily on the basic services that the CoCT deliver to it’s residents. Being proud of their environment, knowing that their taxes are working motivate their residents to report crime. The CoCT Metro Police has the capability to assist the SAPS in curbing gangsterism and the drug related crimes – only if they have the permission to gather intelligence, investigate and do the follow-up arrests. Unfortunately a lot of lobbying needs to be done before the Police Act can change. It’s no secret that detectives workload is as such that they cannot cope. In the meantime the SAPS commanders are chasing statistics and not successes. It seems that general Mkhwanazi is one of the few level headed career Police officers that serves the people and not political masters, like his fellow generals. I believe that he and JP Smith will be a formidable team where Public Private Partnerships would be successful in curbing crime. My personal wish is that unemployment in areas plagued by drugs and gangsterism be lowered to such an extent where permanent employment can rid the areas of poverty, uplifting the quality of living for communities that really deserve it. The education system needs to be totally revised, where results are measured in how many grade 12 learners qualify to attend university instead of preparing them for employment. There is such a need for vocational education, yet SA rely on illegal immigrants to do plumbing, bricklaying, carpentry, welding etc. to name a few. The high number of unemployed graduates, depending on grants to survive – while their peers with technical skills smile with their paycheck in their pockets. Compare residential areas with a high percentage of employed residents to the crime stats with those areas with a high level of unemployment to crime related issues. Even with effective policing, the main issue driving crime is unemployment.