Governments’ ‘double-up trial redeployment’ plan has been revealed in an effort to combat crime in the province and city, Cape {town} Etc reports.
Also read: Murals showcase LEAP’s crime-fighting success in Cape Town
Since 2020, the Western Cape Government and the City of Cape Town have trained, equipped, staffed, managed and deployed over 1 000 Law Enforcement Action Plan (LEAP) officers in Cape Town.
The initiative serves as a force multiplier to the South African Police Service (SAPS) in response to the national government’s persistent inability to carry out its constitutional duty to deploy police personnel to keep the public safe.
‘The tough reality is that SAPS in the Western Cape is under-staffed and under-funded. In March 2024 we had 16 424 SAPS officers deployed to our province with 1 757 vacancies, but actually what we need is to dramatically increase SAPS policing numbers by the thousands to make a real difference on our streets and in our communities,’ said Western Cape Minister of Police Oversight and Community Safety Anroux Marais.
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Critical lessons have been learnt since LEAP’s initial deployment, and the newly signed cooperation agreement with SAPS allows LEAP partners to reevaluate deployment patterns and explore different tactics to make Cape Town safer.
‘The Western Cape Safety Plan is based on data and empirical evidence, and testing different approaches to tackling crime. We must be willing to take the lessons that we learn, apply it and approach the complex crime problem from as many angles as we can.’ said Marais.
The Western Cape Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety, in collaboration with the City of Cape Town, has launched a double-up trial redeployment for LEAP in order to aggressively battle the developing organised crime and extortion syndicates that plague communities in our crime hotspots.
LEAP will redeploy personnel to focus on six precincts. The decision was taken in consultation with the South African Police Service following a successful trial in Delft in 2023, and it was influenced by the following factors: murder numbers, operational imperatives and the previous twelve quarterly crime statistics releases.
This deployment strategy will be reviewed and altered after six months.
Delft, Khayelitsha, Phillipi East, Nyanga, Mitchells Plain and Gugulethu will all see higher deployments throughout the trial period as a result of this double-up trail redeployment.
A 120-member Reaction Unit will assist in Hanover Park, Manenberg, Atlantis, Kraaifontein, Elsies River and other areas where LEAP officers will not be permanently stationed, to immediately prevent flare-ups and assist SAPS and the City’s metro police, particularly in areas where gunshot detection technology is deployed.
‘The LEAP programme must always remain dynamic in adapting to the needs of the ever-changing war against crime. The changed strategy will deploy more LEAP officers to the worst crime-affected areas for maximum impact against crime, while the Rapid Reaction Unit will ensure an immediate response to a flare-up in any other part of Cape Town,’ said Marais.
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JP Smith, Cape Town Mayoral Committee member for Safety and Security, said, ‘The LEAP programme has had remarkable successes since its launch in 2019, with 595 unlicensed firearms removed from the streets of Cape Town and 34 079 arrests conducted. The need for a targeted approach is required in order to combat a new wave of organised crime, perpetrated by groups that have become increasingly bold and ruthless in their tactics.’
‘The City has increasingly been investing in technology as a force multiplier and this will be a critical addition in our efforts to disrupt syndicates and gangs that are turning our communities into war zones,’ said Smith.
‘I will also be in constant contact with the provincial SAPS leadership to ensure that we work closely with SAPS during this double-up trial redeployment to ensure that when issues arise they are addressed, and that we find ways to replicate the successes elsewhere,’ concluded Marais.
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Picture: JP Smith / Facebook