Safety and Security

What we do

The City of Cape Town’s Safety and Security Directorate fulfils a public safety role across its emergency and enforcement departments. Its primary functions include traffic and by-law enforcement, firefighting, disaster mitigation, response and recovery, and emergency call-taking.

The Directorate is also responsible for the effective management of major events.

Safety and security activities are coordinated through Project EPIC (emergency policing and incident command), an integrated communication platform linking departments within the Directorate. This system, the first in South Africa, helps call-takers identify the location and status of available responders, and then dispatch those closest to the emergency along the best route. EPIC also provides real-time feedback on the status of an emergency, helps the City improve service delivery, and assists with effective resource management.

The Directorate embraces innovative technology - it has the largest metropolitan CCTV camera network on the continent, is the first to employ gunshot detection technology, and has incorporated the use of remotely piloted aircraft systems (‘drones’) in support of policing activities, firefighting and disaster risk management.

We include

The Safety and Security Directorate is home to three uniformed enforcement services:

• Law Enforcement Department;
• Metro Police Department; and
• the Traffic Service.

These departments undertake Traffic and By-law enforcement, and crime prevention duties in support of the South African Police Service (SAPS) as the primary agency responsible for crime prevention.

The Directorate’s emergency services comprise:

• the Fire and Rescue Service,
• Public Emergency Communication Centre, and the
• Disaster Risk Management Centre.

Since its initial establishment, Safety and Security has grown to include several support services and systems that, while not public facing, form a critical backbone of its daily operations. Examples include the Emergency Policing Incident Command (EPIC) system; the Safety and Security Information Management System (SSIMS) and the Metro Police CCTV Strategic Surveillance Unit (SSU).

The Directorate has more than 6 000 permanent and contracted staff members in its employ and boasts thriving volunteer corps in its Law Enforcement and Disaster Risk Management Departments, with well over 600 active volunteers.

You may want to

• Access our safety and security resourcesJoin our Safety and Security Directorate Volunteer ProgrammePay your traffic fineReport an emergencyReport illegal occupancy or land invasionFind a driver's licence testing centreFind out more about fire safetyPrepare for a disasterApply for a driver's licenceApply for a learner’s licenceReport a problem buildingReport noise

Department highlights

A netball tournament organised by Law Enforcement School Resource Officers.

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Contact us

Public Emergency Communication Centre (PECC)

Telephone:
021 480 7700 (24 hours)

Anonymous tip-off for rewards line

Telephone:
0800 1100 77 (24hours)

Extortion tip-off line

Telephone:
0800 00 6992