City scape over Cape Town South Africa at dawn, as seen from Tygerberg hill in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town.
Most of this will be used to increase law enforcement presence in communities.
City scape over Cape Town South Africa at dawn, as seen from Tygerberg hill in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town.
The City of Cape Town will, in the 2019/2020 financial year, inject R535-million in the safety and security directorate. This, Dan Plato believes, will go a long way in addressing high levels of crime in communities.
As reported by EWN, the announcement was made by the Cape Town mayor on Tuesday. Plato revealed that the city budget has been finalised and will be tabled at the provincial government’s first council sitting, on Wednesday.
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Plato revealed that the scourge of crime in Cape Town has to be addressed head-on.
According to the mayor, the budget will allow for the installation of CCTV cameras. Although, it hasn’t been specified if these security upgrades will be affected in other areas besides the CBD.
Plato further stated that the money will be used to bring in a fleet of new vehicles and equipment for law enforcement. Moreover, it will also allow for the recruitment of more staff.
In addressing shortages of law enforcement presence in the metro, the mayor announced that the safety and security directorate will deploy at least one law enforcement officer to each of the 116 wards in Cape Town.
“Once [the budget is] adopted, we will be able to forge ahead with plans to deploy one dedicated law enforcement officer to each of our 116 wards in the city. This will be in addition to the existing 100 extra offices we are deploying in the neighbourhood safety team in Bonteheuwel, Valhalla Park and Bishop Lavis,” Plato revealed.
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For the City, this is a way to maintain a presence and ensure cohesive policing of communities, in collaboration with neighbourhood watches and community policing forums.
However, it could be a while before all of this is implemented. Plato revealed that the deployment of these plans could be seen from as early as December.