Nearly 400 people were arrested this past week by the City of Cape Town’s three agencies within the Safety and Security Directorate. In addition, the impoundment of public transport vehicles have increased week-on-week. Read more below:
Cape Town Traffic Services held integrated roadblocks and impounded 326 public transport vehicles, compared to 264 the week before and 248 two weeks ago.
The vehicles are impounded in terms of legislation, where drivers are unable to produce a valid operating licence, or are found to be operating contrary to the conditions of their operating licence.
‘Statistics show that enforcement is happening and we attend to as many of the hundreds of complaints received each week. Our enforcement agencies have many priorities all of equal importance, but they cannot be everywhere at once.
‘We are serious about making the roads safer for everyone, but the public also needs to step up. Our officers can do more if they do not have to police the behaviour of drivers who simply flaunt the law by driving drunk or speeding,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.
During this past week, the Traffic Services made 82 arrests of which 74 were for driving under the influence, officers recorded a total of 32 201 speeding offences, 26 293 fines were issued for various traffic violations and 2 184 warrants of arrest were executed.
Motorists are reminded of the impoundments under the new Traffic By-law which authorises any enforcement officer to impound vehicles for a range of offences.
The City may charge a daily or monthly tariff for storage of impounded vehicles and have three months from the date of the impoundment in which to retrieve their vehicles.
The by-law can be found here: 2014-Provincial Gaze (capetown.gov.za)
LAW ENFORCEMENT
During the past week, the City’s Law Enforcement Department officers made 280 arrests.
METRO POLICE DEPARTMENT
Officers arrested 36 people and issued 2 949 fines.
Yesterday, Sunday, 23 July 2023, officers in Parow were dispatched to Fransie Van Zyl Street by the Metro Police CCTV operators who noticed three suspects digging up cables.
On arrival, the suspects fled the scene with the officers in pursuit.
One of the suspects injured himself during his getaway and he was arrested for cable theft and malicious damage to property. He was taken to Karl Bremer Hospital for medical assistance and later detained at Parow police station.
Officers confiscated two spades, a hammer, a box cutter, a hack saw blade and a spanner.
Residents are reminded to phone 021 480 7700 from a cell phone and 107 from a landline to report any criminal activity or emergency.
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