In addition to the arrests, which represents an 89% increase compared to the previous year, the City’s Law Enforcement officers also recovered:

• 168 firearms

• 120 imitation firearms

• 2 188 rounds of ammunition 

• 35 858,5 units of drugs

• and issued 289 701 fines and compliance notices

‘These are but a few statistical indicators of the work that our Law Enforcement Department gets through in a year. Add to that an average of nearly 24 000 service requests each month, and it becomes clear just how mammoth the workload is. We have a number of specialised units within the department, and it is not always possible to reflect on the contribution of each unit individually, but I commend the staff for these operational results. There are so many demands on our enforcement agencies, and it is not always plain sailing, but it is important to acknowledge their efforts. While our weekly reporting on statistics gives the public real-time insights into our operations, this annual view is a very important step to providing a more complete picture,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.

Law Enforcement Officers have the power to confiscate, arrest, issue compliance notices and fines, and shut down illegal operations where by-laws are infringed upon.

They also support the South African Police Service in terms of crime prevention, along with the City’s other enforcement agencies.

The Law Enforcement Department has a current staff complement of just over 3 500.

In addition, the Department recruited and trained 81 new Law Enforcement volunteers in the last financial year.

‘We continue to invest in our enforcement services, both the human resources, but also ongoing training and development, as well as the accompanying technology rollout to further expand our impact on the ground. The statistics show the return on these ongoing investments, but we are mindful of the many ongoing challenges on the enforcement environment, and so we are constantly looking to further improve our outputs, and work towards building safer communities,’ added Alderman Smith.