Cape Town - One thousand two hundred and thirty-two Leap officers are deployed in various communities across the city, servicing crime-infested townships.
On Thursday, safety and security departments from the City and the provincial government celebrated the deployment of additional Leap officers into local communities.
The deployment coincided with the launch of an operational base for Leap officers at Bishop Lavis.
Speaking at the event, Premier Alan Winde said that provincial government was elated to introduce the new batch of Leap officers, that will further bolster safety of local communities in line with the province’s Safety Plan.
“We need as many women and men in blue, not just patrolling communities where they are most needed to deter criminals, but also building relationships with our citizens and re-instilling faith in the fight against crime, which has been so eroded by years of Saps mismanagement.”
According to Winde's office, law enforcement has more than tripled its arrest rate in recent years due to the government's increased investment.
“As of July 31, 2022, LEAP officers would have made 8 500 arrests and confiscated 220 firearms,” he said.
The new batch of boots on the ground will go to join deployed Leap officers in Delft, Nyanga, Site C-Khayelitsha , Philippi, Hanover Park, Bishop Lavis, Mfuleni, Harare, Gugulethu, Kraaifontein, Mitchells Plain, Atlantis, Philippi East, and Samora Machel.
Also present at the event, mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said that the Leap programme was enabling the City to do more to make Cape Town safer.
“We are investing in more than 230 new law enforcement and metro police officers this year alone, and hundreds of millions of rand in crime-fighting tech in the city – from cameras to drones to gunshot location technology. Making Cape Town safer is one of the City’s top priority points in its new Integrated Development Plan (IDP).”
The City, according to Hill-Lewis has allocated a record R5.4 billion to its safety budget for the 22/23 financial year, and R86m for CCTV and new crime-fighting tech.
Safety and Security Mayco JP Smith said the City would also be adding R85 million worth of dashcams, body cams for officers, and drones to its operations.
“Over the same period, R66m has also been budgeted for expanding our law enforcement training college to produce even more well-trained officers,” Smith said.
Meanwhile, the new Law Enforcement base also launched on Thursday, boasts a CCTV control room, an EPIC (Emergency Policing Incident Control) Centre where staff track and monitor live operational data.
The facility is also fitted with solar panels and will be unaffected by load shedding.
Today we marked the marked the milestone of 1 100 LEAP officers being deployed.
— Geordin Hill-Lewis (@geordinhl) August 11, 2022
An official ceremony was held at the new LEAP Base in Bishop Lavis.
These officers have already been deployed on the ground in Bishop Lavis and surrounds.https://t.co/dAoD0GpMEK pic.twitter.com/SqcnWLOsmZ
An operational base was also launched for LEAP officers deployed in Bishop Lavis and surrounds. A CCTV control room will soon be operational in this facility to monitor the area and assist with convictions and dispatch of officers to incidents. pic.twitter.com/ILgwYC362A