In the first quarter of this year, volunteer Law Enforcement Auxiliary Officers clocked just over 4 000 hours – a massive boost to the service.
The City of Cape Town’s volunteer Law Enforcement officers continue to play a valuable supporting role to the service, providing additional boots on the ground after hours and on weekends.
The current crop of 124 volunteers are deployed in the four geographical areas, as well as in the Marine Unit and the Rural Safety Unit.
Between April 2019 and March 2022, volunteers made 171 arrests and recovered four firearms and 29 other dangerous weapons.
The arrests included possession of suspected stolen property, stolen vehicles, reckless and negligent driving and attempted murder, and possession of drugs, among others.
‘Our Law Enforcement auxiliary volunteer programme has grown in leaps and bounds since its launch in 2013. Like our Disaster Risk Management volunteer corps, which is also incredibly well supported, it underpins the willingness of so many ordinary residents to participate in building safer communities,’ said the Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.
ABOUT THE AUXILIARY VOLUNTEER PROGRAMME
- Applicants have to meet the required criteria, like stipulated health and fitness levels, a valid driving licence and senior certificate or equivalent, among others
- Once accepted into the programme, volunteers undergo peace officer training, and additional training to empower them with their function
- Peace officers are under the command of Law Enforcement when on duty as a Law Enforcement volunteer
- Volunteers are required to provide a minimum of 16 hours volunteer duty per month.
- Volunteers must complete a minimum period of two years before being eligible to apply for a remunerated position should these be available
‘The recruitment of additional facilitators at the City’s Training College will allow us to train 200 volunteer auxiliary officers a year. These candidates will be selected from a pool of approximately 5 000 applications received through our online application process. The response to the launch of our online platform was overwhelming, and we have therefore put new applications on hold for the foreseeable future.
‘The updated Law Enforcement Auxiliary Policy also makes provision for the introduction of Auxiliary Volunteer Support Officers to provide administrative support to Law Enforcement. We are extremely excited about this development as it will allow candidates who do not meet the criteria for the uniformed positions to be part of the programme,’ added Alderman Smith.
Auxiliary Volunteer Support Officers will not have peace officer designation.
Training of this volunteer category will begin once the framework is developed, and persons currently on the waiting list, but who do not have a senior certificate or driver’s licence will be considered for these roles.
Where Auxiliary Law Enforcement Support Officers have been volunteers for a period longer than 12 months, they may be assisted to complete their Senior Certificate and driver’s licence qualification by the City of Cape Town through internal or external training service providers.