'Our Safety and Security Directorate welcomed the declaration which gives law enforcement officers additional powers and they are in the process of rolling out the incremental training which will guide the officers when implementing it,' said the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.
 
Limitations on the powers of enforcement agencies are determined nationally and in terms of the Criminal Procedures Act, therefore the increase in powers is conferred from a national level.
 
'Unfortunately, misguided beliefs about the operations that the different departments within the directorate should perform are often not accurate as departments are often limited in terms of incidents that they may respond to. This is why we have numerous complaints of motorists who are stuck in peak time traffic complaining about a law enforcement officer who doesn't do anything about a taxi on a yellow line. All they see is a person in uniform not assisting or turning a blind eye to a traffic offence.
 
'What they don’t realise is until now law enforcement officers could not intervene by law. This has changed and the powers of officers have increased generally. In addition and with some, such as most of the Schedule One offences and the Criminal Matters Amendment Act which deals with damage to critical infrastructure, giving them national jurisdiction and therefore they won't be tied to municipal boundaries,' said Alderman Smith.
 
Additional powers which are now being implemented include:

• New powers granted in terms of arrests include all by-law offences
• New schedule granted powers of arrest and dealing with “any offence relating to the supply, possession or conveyance of intoxicating liquor” as opposed to the restricted sections previously
• The schedule also empowered law enforcement officers to deal with “applicable road traffic and road transportation legislation that is operative in the area of a municipality”. Thus it covers all traffic-related legislation and any envisaged future traffic legislation

 
'The Safety and Security Directorate identified the need for the increase in powers of law enforcement officers in 2016 and since then have lobbied tirelessly for this to happen. The previous schedule was difficult to interpret and it was constrictive. The new schedule of powers for officers appointed by municipalities was promulgated last year and as it is in the process of being implemented I am excited about the impact that this will have on our roads and in our communities,' said Alderman Smith.
 
The phased training underpinning the new powers is ongoing and the law enforcement basic training course has been adapted accordingly.

It is envisaged that all 1 500 officers, which include auxiliary or volunteer law enforcement officers, would have undergone the primary phase of the training by December 2019.

End