The provision of additional posts for the City of Cape Town’s three enforcement agencies is provided for in the draft budget for the Safety and Security Directorate. This is part of the City’s Budget for the 2019/2020 Financial Year which is currently out for public input.
The City plans to recruit and deploy at least 200 more staff members across its three enforcement agencies, namely the Metro Police, Law Enforcement and Traffic Service departments, if the draft budget is adopted by Council after the public participation process.
‘If we take into account the public feedback on matters of law and order in this city, and the country as a whole, it becomes clear that we need to invest far more resources into the safety sector.
‘With the planned injection of extra staff and resources, the City aims to increase its visibility in our most vulnerable communities and across the metro in general. While our enforcement services perform at a level far above their weight class, we need to bolster our capacity to meet the ever increasing demands to deal with crime and lawlessness on the roads and in our communities. The South African Police Service, which holds the mandate for crime prevention is woefully under-resourced in this province and so we are increasingly forced to step up to fill the gaps,’ said the City’s Executive Mayor, Alderman Dan Plato.
The Safety and Security Directorate’s proposed capital budget is just over R103 million and its proposed operating budget is close to R3,5 billion. If allocated, the funds will be used to augment existing services and resources with additional staff, vehicles and equipment.
This is in addition to the extra resources which were allocated to the Directorate courtesy of the Adjustments Budget in January this year.
The City’s Metro Police Training College is currently home to several hundred recruits, who are undergoing various training modules required for placement in the Metro Police, Law Enforcement and Traffic Departments.
The recruits are all in various phases of their training, including:
- 104 who have just completed their peace officer and traffic warden training and will be ready for deployment soon through the Neigbhourhood Safety Team initiative in Bonteheuwel, Bishop Lavis and Valhalla Park
- 47 learners who have started the practical phase of their law enforcement skills training programme. Their experiential learning with the Traffic Service and Metro Police Department will conclude in early June 2019
- 109 recruits who started the 18-month-long learnership programme in January 2019, including the Further Education and Training Certificate (FETC) in Road Traffic Law Enforcement. They will progress to the policing module of their learnership after successful completion of the FETC
The Metro Police Training College is a registered assessment centre with the Quality Council for Trade and Occupations and the Safety and Security Sector Training Authority. It was also the first municipal traffic college to receive Professional Firearm Trainers Council accreditation. It also secured accreditation in 2018 for the new Basic Traffic Officer qualification which is a three-year course.
‘The City has established itself as a front-runner in the training of municipal policing recruits. We are extremely proud of the efforts of our training college in ensuring that we are fully accredited, which in turn makes recruitment, training and of course deployment that much easier.
‘Another feather in our cap has been the various volunteer and Expanded Public Works Programme initiatives like the Law Enforcement Auxiliary and Facility Protection Officers programmes. Through these initiatives, we have provided basic peace officer training to hundreds of individuals who gain experience and thus make our recruitment efforts that much easier when we need full-time staff,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.