Last week Friday, the Standing Committee on Community Safety visited the Joint Operations Centre (JOC) in Mossel Bay – a safety partnership that involves many structures from all levels of government and contributes to our all-of-society approach.
We were impressed with the integrated approach to safety and how this centre establishes a blue print for other municipalities to follow in order to improve safety coordination and disaster preparation.
This, however, comes to no surprise as the Western Cape have continued to outperform on safety indicators and innovative governance.
In the first quarter of the 2022/23, the provincial Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety achieved the following:
- A total of 1 141 LEAP officers had been deployed and had carried out 1 751 arrests against its target of 300. Moreover, 44 firearms were confiscated against the target of 33;
- 69 Neighbourhood Watches were accredited;
- Amendments to the Western Cape Liquor Act are being made to provision for minimum pricing and trading-time parameters. Additionally, 55 enforcement operations were conducted by the Western Cape Liquor Authority with other agencies; and
- A contract was signed with the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum to produce 6 policy briefs for the Police Needs and Priorities (PNP) report this year.
MPP Gillion Bosman says: “These are but a few examples of how good governance with sound leadership are able to not only improve service delivery, but also make our communities safer. We look forward to these programmes developing and more initiatives like these to be implemented in the future.”