POLITICAL NEWS - The DA in the Western Cape welcomes efforts by the Western Cape Government and the City of Cape Town that ensured the decline of 20 SAPS officers (from April 2020 to April 2021) at the Delft police station was countered by tripling available resources through its own efforts.
This involved the deployment of 73 LEAP officers in the area to supplement boots on the ground and promote crime fighting and prevention initiatives.
As part of the Standing Committee on Community Safety’s oversight role of safety interventions in the province, I took part in a joint operations of the South African Police Service and Law Enforcement Officers in Delft this past week.
It is clear that these collaborative efforts support the shortage of SAPS resources and ultimately contributes to safer communities.
The original SAPS decrease of 20 police officers meant that both shifts at the police station had to be managed by 10 less members per shift. To supplement this, the 73 LEAP officers are split into 2 groups (20 and 19 officers) for both shifts.
Altogether, priority crime stations in the Western Cape such as Delft, Bishop Lavis, Gugulethu, Kraaifontein and Nyanga, amongst others have seen a decrease of 14 officers on average for the last year. Consequently, the SAPS police to population ration in Delft stands at a shocking 1 to 696 community members.
The national management of SAPS must urgently address this dire situation of ongoing police under-resourcing in the Western Cape. The UN standard is 1 police officer for every 220 citizens. Supplementing personnel is a primary national competency. The inadequate amount of personnel threatens communities directly and places a burden on every officer.
Effectively, the efforts by the provincial government thus ensures that we limit the negative impact on every shift with additional personnel to build capacity. This supports a sense of safety in neighbourhoods where it is most needed.
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