Cape Town Metropolitan Police Department 2021/22 Annual Police Plan

Meeting report

Briefing by the Cape Town Metropolitan Police Department

Mr Petrus Robberts, Acting Executive Director: City of Cape Town Safety & Security Directorate, informed the Committee the Department would adopt an integrated approach with regards to policing and enforcement in the City. Together with the City’s other enforcement agencies, the City would address the challenges relating to crime prevention, traffic and by-law enforcement in a pro-active manner in order to achieve its mission and vision and create community reassurance throughout the city. In conducting joint operations, it would partner with the South African Police Services (SAPS), provincial traffic, Department of Home Affairs, and neighbouring municipalities.

Each operational area averages 77 members dedicated per area.  A total of 565 operational police officials including command structures are deployed across the entire City of Cape Town geographical area of 2,461 km², 103 suburbs with a population of 3.9 million. Further, these members render assistance to 60 SAPS police stations and other external role players and are deployed from five deployment offices around the city. The SAPS Act dictates that once a municipality opts to establish a Municipal Police Department, it must ensure sufficient resource allocations are appropriated to sustain acceptable service delivery standards. Currently, Cape Town Metro Police Department’s operating budget is standing at R667.563.316, while the capital budget amounts to R86.502.398.

Mr Robberts reported that the Cape Town Metro Police strategy is focusing on fighting priority crime. This includes the combating of drugs and alcohol related offences, combating illegal firearms and ammunition, gang related criminal activities and violent crimes, crimes against women and children, and traffic and by-law offences. This would be done through visible patrols to deter crime and enhance community re-assurance; by-law operations focused on problematic areas identified by complaints from public members; joint operations with SAPS as the leading agency; vehicle checkpoints or stop and checks to address vehicle and driver fitness; and security at major events and popular tourist destinations.

On drug and alcohol combating programme, it is accepted that the leading agency in terms of combating drug and alcohol-related crimes remains the SAPS. The City has a vital role to play in supporting the leading agency. As stated in the IDP, the Safety and Security Directorate has stepped up its alcohol and drug enforcement operations with the introduction of successful saturation operations which targets illegal liquor outlets and drug houses throughout the City. An emerging concern raised particularly by the Integrated Justice Cluster, is the conviction rate. Efforts would be made through the watch and brief programme to quantify our conviction rate. 

Concerning by-law enforcement and traffic policing, the Department would support law enforcement services with its dedicated enforcement initiatives during integrated and joint operations but would also embark on autonomous operations to attain its goals to ensure compliance with the City’s by-law regulations. The amount of law enforcement based operations has become one of the department’s performance indicators. A zero tolerance approach towards the general disregard for traffic rules and regulations which is particularly prevalent in the public transport industry would be adopted and vigorously pursued. The focus would be on reckless and negligent driving, inconsiderate driving, driving whilst intoxicated, vehicle and driver fitness, permit and route transgressions, safety belts, cellular phones, barrier lines, parking offences and general moving violations.

When it comes to technology, the City has employed a new initiative called programme Emergency and Policing Incident Command (EPIC) which provides an integrated system for incident management, including call logging, dispatch, Real Time Situational Awareness (RTSA) and dashboard reporting. The effective use of the programme would ensure high level strategic reporting that will enable effective, efficient and equitable policing methodologies.

The system would allow for reactive, proactive and predictive policing strategies: This platform provides the City with a single integrated solution that allows for the incident call-taking, the dispatch of required resources, monitoring and measuring of emergency and response management incidents within the City across all the services.  EPIC further provides strategic guidance for information driven policing initiatives.  This would also allow for the effective analyses of the data which would assist with operational, educational and corrective strategies. 

Initiatives are usually based on official crime statistics and as the department does not have access to detailed and recent crime statistics, the EPIC platform allows for the use of alternative information sources, such as Master Service Request (MSR) for multi-disciplinary initiatives, Service Requests (SR) for departmental initiatives and information on enforcement actions by officers, reports by neighbourhood watches, contributing factors to crime and disorder are offences detected by the City’s CCTV network and  historical gunshot location statistics (Shot Spotter). Gunshot Detection Technology remains an important analytical tool which  informs and provides predictive policing statistics used for crime prevention planning aimed at addressing gang related shootings and criminality.

Mr Robberts further reported that crime is highly predictable in certain hot spots and the City aims to address this challenge through the installation of CCTV surveillance network on a continuous basis across the City. The dedicated Camera Response Unit (CRU), which is operationally directed by what the network detects, would expand to meet the demands of the growing network. The CCTV network would be expanded over the next five years which would include guidance and advice to neighbourhood watches regarding the installation of cameras. The SSU currently monitors a network of cameras across the Area Based Service Delivery Areas (ABSDA), covering the Cape Town central business district, Athlone, Manenberg, Bonteheuwel – Khayelitsha corridors, Mowbray, Rondebosch, Claremont, Vanguard Drive and Gugulethu areas. Cameras have also become operational in Hanover Park, Manenberg, Athlone, Bellville, and Langa, around Tygerberg Hospital and in various other locations.

The Safety and Security Portfolio Committee approved the Camera Rollout Plan of 2021-2026. The plan was done in conjunction with the provincial department of the South African Police Services and Western Cape Department of Community Safety. The five areas that the five year plan would cover are Nyanga, Mfuleni, Mitchells Plain, Delft, and Kraaifontein.

Social Crime Prevention seeks to effectively empower communities to deal with social issues which lead to crime and address fears and perceptions of unsafe environments.  One of the ways of dealing with this crime phenomenon has commonly become known as the Social Crime Prevention approach, to determine the possible causes of crime and initiatives to address such causes through community driven interventions. It aims to create sustainable communities in lieu of accepting responsibility and partnerships in crime prevention solutions. The CTMPD rolled out the four identified projects across the city. The communities and other identified groups would receive facilitation to enhance their knowledge, understanding and various skills. It is envisaged that particular crime threats be addressed through these programmes, which vary from domestic and gender violence to the prevention of substance abuse and youth involvement in crime as well as child safety.

In addition, he said the enhancement and development of existing specialised units within the CTMPD remains a fundamental vision in our crime prevention strategy aimed at supporting specialised units within the SAPS as well as task-specific units within the Cities Safety and Security Directorate. The Special Operations Division includes the K9 Unit, Equestrian Unit, Gang and Drug Unit and the Tactical Response Unit (TRU). The Tactical Response Unit, which primarily supports the SAPS Public Order Policing (POP) at all Protest and Civil Unrest matters, received no less than R22 million in the 2019/20 financial year for the appointment of an additional CTMPD members as well as task purpose fleet. The growth of the TRU is contained within the City of Cape Town’s five-year Integrated Development Plan and as such would continue receiving priority in terms of resources until 2023.

In closing, he stated the legislation dictates that the Department focuses on its legislative mandate, which includes: traffic enforcement, by-law enforcement and crime prevention. These legislative mandates are achieved through the provision of the 24hour service being maintained at area level throughout the metropole. The Department accepts that the fight against crime cannot be won by any single entity operating in isolation and, therefore, places great value and importance on embracing collaborative partnerships with various internal and external role players such as SAPS and many other agencies including our communities. In terms of the City’s proactive crime prevention methodologies, the Cape Town Metro Police places substantial emphasis on the “Broken Window” approach to continue striving to progressively limit more serious crimes.

Discussion

Deliberations with the Cape Town Metropolitan Police

Mr P Marais (FF+) remarked when he was the Mayor of Cape Town, he introduced the metro police in the City, and had a fight with the national Minister. Eventually he won it. It is time for the metro police to show it has teeth. He wanted to know at what point does the metro police enforce municipal by-laws because there are land invasions happening in Cape Town.  What by-laws are absent that could make the work of the metro police easier? He asked if there are by-laws for zoning regulations. He also wanted to find out if the metro police work 8-5 office hours or if they are on duty 24 hours. If they are on a 24 hour shift, are there enough police to cover the hotspots; and he asked what the coordination and cooperation is between the metro police and SAPS when it comes to reacting to complaints and if this is hampering its job from getting convictions.

Chief Wayne Le Roux, Chief of the Cape Town Metro Police, on coordination with SAPS, said the work relations are good and there are no challenges on the ground. There is a TMC where the police and other emergency services are represented. Police report matters happening on the ground to station commanders. There are no qualms on relations between SAPS and Metropolice on the ground up to the senior management level. He further stated the municipal by-laws are there as part of the legislative mandate. The law-enforcement unit deals with by-laws. There are challenges on illegal occupations because when officers are sent out to stop these acts, there are certain limits for them, especially if the illegal structure is fully occupied. The City has to review some of these matters and send papers to court for the removal of illegal structures. The City is trying to execute its integrated approach and engage stakeholders. During weekly meetings, challenges are discussed on how to deal with problematic areas.

The metro police operate for 24 hours and 25% of staff works on the 12 hour shift system.

Mr Robberts added there are various committees that look at various issues affecting communities. All these sub-committees are well coordinated. The weekly-held meetings also coordinate the deployment of LEAP officers every week. 185 illegal firearms have been confiscated since February 2020, and house and shebeen searches have been conducted during these 24 hour shifts. Every new recruit is told he/she would work on a rotational 24 hour shift system. The integrated operations with law enforcement help to identify crime hotspots, traffic contraventions, etc.

Mr F Christians (ACDP) wanted to know what makes the metro police different from the law enforcement officers because the latter is getting more powers from the Criminal Procedure Act. He stated the metro police is very small and has got 565 officers even though it operates 24 hours and asked if this arrangement with law enforcement has improved the way they are working together. He further wanted to establish what happened to the female deputy chief of the metro police because she does not appear in the organogram of the organisation.

Chief Le Roux indicated there are 565 metro police officers on the ground and they would like to have more to continue with the 24 hour shift system and there is a response system in place. The female deputy chief got a promotion and is working as the chief in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and that position would be filled in as soon as possible.

Ms M Wenger (DA) requested the Committee be given more information on how high risk areas are determined; asked if the metro police is playing a role in safeguarding the City’s high risk infrastructure; and wanted to find out if the Department is responsible for indicators and targets dealing with the management of firearms and ammunition.

Chief Le Roux said one of their challenges is to look at the infrastructure to ensure it is protected. This is one area that is always on the agenda on their weekly meetings whether it is an early warning system or information police pass to them. He said they no longer have monthly meetings and it is better to meet weekly. There is a consolidated approach with stakeholders. The metro police is responsible for all the management of firearms within the three services.

Mr Robberts further stated a priority committee has been established to look at the City’s property where all the 11 directorates take responsibility for stolen or damaged or vandalised infrastructure within the City in order to account and look at financial costs.

Mr M Kama (ANC) wanted to understand what the relationship is between metro police and LEAP officers and what the difference is in terms of training and salaries, and asked if there is a challenge of employees wanting to join another unit. He also wanted to find out the number of CCTV cameras in the metro and high crime areas and how it is ensured they are working, especially in areas such as Kraaifontein and Delft.

Chief Le Roux reported there is one command control in order to render the service. The work relations with LEAP are fine because there are instances when they have to call Leap when there are programmes on specialised units or to provide assistance. He said he has not heard of an officer resigning from one unit to the other because Leap starts at a certain level. Metro police officers and LEAP officers offer a service that is “up there”. Concerning cameras, he stated on a daily basis they get feedback from stakeholders of what is happening on the ground. Challenge is the cameras are vandalised. Khayelitsha has 16 functioning cameras and 20 do not function. Phillipi is one of the areas with most vandalism.  Fibre gets broken constantly. He said they were looking at the process of placing the cameras on City properties. There are teams that monitor the cameras, but the problem is vandalism.

Mr Robberts made it clear when they do joint operations in LEAP areas, LEAP is in charge. When other units are needed, then the traffic unit and metro are co-opted to work jointly in that operation together with SAPS.

Chief Le Roux further added the introduction of LEAP is a force-multiplier, not a threat or problem. It is a new initiative that started in Cape Town in order to deal with crime and grime. He further stated the LEAP service is an initiative that has been started recently. It has its own training requirements and training comprises various methods that suit its mandate like peace-keeping, etc. It takes six months to train LEAP officers. At the end of the day, it is all about using resources optimally in order to deliver a service.

Mr Robberts pointed out there is a difference in the pay between police and law enforcement officers. The law enforcement officer is not employed in terms of the Police Act. But the Minister of Justice has given law enforcement more powers in order to assist SAPS in fighting crime. The document detailing all this information would be sent to the committee.

The Chairperson wanted to know the number of land invasions that occurred in the last year and how the metro police engaged with that. He asked if the Cape Town metro police has engagements with other metro police in the country when it comes to average staff and resource allocation and approaches to work. Further, he wanted to establish if, with the help of the CCTV cameras, the metro police are able to identify areas hard hit by vandalism and if the CCTV cameras have been of help in securing convictions. He wanted to know if the CCTV cameras have been made to be tamper-proof so that criminals are unable to vandalise or tamper with them.

Mr Robberts explained that since January 2020, there have been land invasions on municipal, provincial and national land. 20 instances happened within the city of Cape Town. 68 110 structures were demolished and that they have to act immediately before the structure is erected and occupied. Before lockdown, the metro police destroyed 5 000 illegal structures. Now 100 000 people need to be re-allocated when the Disaster Management Act gets to zero so that evictions could kick in. 23 873 land parcels belonging to parastatals, municipalities, province, national and private owners have been lost. Arrests related to land invasions were standing at 135. 106 court orders have been obtained. SAPS and metro police services have been activated to act immediately on land invasion, using criminal law procedures and not by-laws. Engagements are going on with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on why there have been no prosecutions for some of these land evictions. The City is doing its best to attend to the land invasions and identifying all the hotspots and monitoring them. 78 000 projects are under threat of invasion because some of these land parcels get occupied when people see them being fenced and electrified.

Chief Le Roux said the number of staff within the metro police is a big concern. Within Cape Town, there are three services while other metros, like Johannesburg, has a combined service. On average, Cape Town releases 6 000 officers while Johannesburg would release 4 000 with all the combined services reporting to the Chief whereas in Cape Town, each service has its own Chief, reporting individually to the executive director of the safety and security directorate. About camera roll-out, he stated it would be done within the five-year plan (2021-2026) and engagements with stakeholders have started to ensure resources are used optimally. He added R9.8 million has been set aside to fix broken cameras. Already R50m has been spent on fixing damaged cameras during this financial year.

Ms Wenger asked if the Department could give the Committee an indication of where crime has increased during the loadshedding periods, especially on the destruction of municipal infrastructure.

Mr G Bosman (DA) remarked that in the previous engagement with SAPS, the Western Cape Police Commissioner indicated there are crime intelligence officers available to process camera footage from the City’s camera control because the SAPS stated it does not own cameras. He asked if the City of Cape Town could produce statistics on crimes solved with the help of cameras and how its partnership is with SAPS.

Mr Marais asked if it would be possible to be furnished with the metro police rapid response number; and wanted to understand how the hierarchy of the metro police reporting is set up.

Mr Christians wanted to understand if there is duplication of duties between LEAP and the metro police seeing that LEAP has more powers. He asked if the metro police still has a role to play and if it was not time to talk about amalgamation to have one structure to fight crime.

Mr Kama commented the Khayelitsha Development Forum presented plans to have cameras for the Khayelitsha community and wanted to partner with the City of Cape Town. (MMC) JP Smith was part of the meeting. He wanted to know if the metro police is part of this roll-out.

The Chairperson asked the delegates to make closing remarks and send further responses in writing to the committee.

Chief Le Roux said they would formulate a consolidated response. But he noted loadshedding is a problem for most people across the country. He said they try to be visible in dark areas because they have the (loadshedding) schedule. The metro drives around with blue lights and the traffic department ensures free flow of traffic. The metro police reports to the Acting Executive Director who reports to the City Manager, and interaction with the Provincial Police Commissioner and National Commissioner is on-going.

Mr Robberts explained they hold weekly meetings with SAPS on crime information from its crime intelligence unit. Deployment of personnel is done according to the schedule. He stated it is very early to tell which crimes have been committed during loadshedding. There is visibility in affected areas. Camera footage is made available to SAPS – the metro wanted SAPS to be more involved. Already SAPS detectives were approaching the metro police on the availability of footage. Three cases using video footage has led to convictions regarding gang shootings. The rapid response number is: 021 480 770. He said there is good cooperation between the stations and units. In the past, they operated in silos. LEAP is appointed in terms of Section 334 of the Criminal Procedure Act

Ms Yashina Pillay, HOD: Western Cape Department of Community Safety, noted all the inputs and comments and commended the City of Cape Town for its hard work and commitment in order to meet the objectives of the Western Cape Safety Plan.

The meeting was adjourned.