Statistics bare the weight that Law Enforcement carries
06 September 2025
From animals and problem buildings to liquor, firearms and stolen metals, the Law Enforcement Department had another busy year. Officers made 12 000 arrests, but they also confiscated more than 5 000 rounds of ammunition – a significant increase compared to the previous year. Read more below:
The City's Law Enforcement Department is tasked with by-law enforcement and supporting other enforcement agencies in crime prevention.
Officers have the power to confiscate, arrest, issue compliance notices and fines, and shut down illegal operations.
The department has just over 2 200 uniformed members who, in the past year, issued 376 113 fines for transgressions across nearly 30 different pieces of municipal and national legislation and attended 312 211 service requests across the metropole.
Officers impounded 2 540 marine living resources, nearly 2 250 kilograms of stolen metal, 2 609 animals, 13 839 units of liquor, shut down 917 illegal shebeens and cleared more than 21 000 square metres of graffiti.The amount of work our Law Enforcement Department gets through in a year is staggering. It is a never-ending loop of pressure and demands on them, but so too our other enforcement agencies, and not always enough appreciation for their efforts. The environment is challenging and I want to express my sincere appreciation to everyone for the work they do, from the uniformed staff members on patrol to the support staff, but also our volunteer corps for their contribution to safer communities,' said Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.
Law Enforcement has also started playing a greater role in general crime prevention efforts over the past five years, since the launch of the Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP).
In the 12 months between July 2024 and June 2025, Law Enforcement officers:
- Participated in 90 215 crime prevention and by-law operations
- Arrested 12 639 suspects on a range of charges
- Confiscated 41 314,35 units of drugs
- Confiscated 177 illegal firearms, 73 imitation firearms and 5 156 rounds of ammunition
‘Based on our data, there has been a 157 percent increase in confiscated ammunition compared to the previous year. That is more than 5 000 potential shots that would have been fired if not for the intervention of our staff. And yet, despite these inroads, the cycle of gun violence will simply continue unchecked if we do not expose and shut down the supply lines and those behind it,' said Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.
End
Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
