Safer Cities Cooperation Agreement a step in the right direction

28 August 2024

STATEMENT BY MAYORAL COMMITTEE MEMBER FOR SAFETY AND SECURITY, ALDERMAN JP SMITH

This week, the City will be a signatory to a Cooperation agreement with the South African Police Service and the Western Cape Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety.

The agreement formalises a commitment by all three spheres of government to work together to improve safety in Cape Town for all residents, as outlined during a stakeholder engagement at the City Hall on Tuesday, 27 August.

The Safer Cities initiative was first introduced three years ago, but failed to effectively get off the ground. In the past, the climate might not have been ready for formal agreements between the City and SAPS. However, the GNU has paved the way for a new era of cooperation and collaboration.

It is our hope that this agreement is the first step towards a blueprint for mutual aid and partnerships, but also:

• the sharing of up to date crime data and intelligence with City enforcement services
• utilising the investments the City has made into policing, focused on improving public safety in Cape Town
• expanding on the areas where such partnerships already exist
• Aligning approaches to support and enhance economic performance within the City. Good work and collaboration have already begun on combating economic crimes and extortion syndicates. Much more can and must be done to stop these syndicates.
  
   
  For years, the City's enforcement agencies have worked in support of SAPS in some of our most vulnerable communities; our Strategic Surveillance Unit has availed its CCTV footage to SAPS investigators in aid of securing prosecutions; we've provided access to data and intelligence from our gunshot detection technology, and have expressed a commitment to share even more resources like the Information, Reconnaissance and Surveillance (ISR) technology, more commonly known as the Eye in the Sky.
  
   
  The City has also made notable investments in its human capital, notably through the LEAP project, and we are confident that our enforcement services staff can play a critical role in providing additional investigative capacity through Metro Police, the Safety and Security Internal Investigative Unit (SSIU) and our information management arm, SSIMS, to help improve prosecution rates.
  
  There have been very positive developments since the appointment of the new Police Minister as part of the Government of National Unity – the signing, finally, of the Cooperation agreement is testament to that, but it will be vital that the implementation protocol is concluded as a matter of urgency to ensure this isn't simply a framework document that doesn't lead to any real chance of change in our most vulnerable communities.

We need smarter policing that is driven by intelligence and evidence based.

The City is fully committed to the initiative; however, we will continue advocating for the devolution of policing powers to local government, as provided for in the Constitution, as the most realistic and effective intervention in the fight against crime.

The Safety and Security Directorate has proven that it can manage effective and ethical policing agencies.

Awarding additional policing powers to the City will assist in the fight against crime, and we call on the National Minister to extend such powers, as part of this cooperation agreement.

End

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office