The Central City stayed safe this festive season, thanks to the combined efforts of the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID), the City of Cape Town and the South African Police Service (SAPS).
The CCID’s public awareness “Stash it, don’t flash it” campaign, launched in December 2016, set the scene to ensure locals and visitors alike had a good holiday experience in the Cape Town CBD. The campaign, concluding at the end of March 2017, is focusing on the prevention of three common crimes in the area – pickpocketing, theft out of vehicles and ATM fraud.
It features street-pole posters across the CCID footprint, as well as “disruption” posters on 1.8-metre-tall lollipop stands placed at random intervals at petty-crime hotspots. CCID public safety officers (PSOs) are handing out safety tip flyers to passersby in the vicinity of these stands.
This, along with increased law enforcement on the streets and state-of-the-art technology have conspired against the crooks, says CCID Safety & Security manager Muneeb Hendricks. “The CCID, the City and SAPS partnered to ensure criminals don’t reach their objectives. We did this by conducting daily joint crime prevention operations, and being more proactive. Agencies have deployed additional members, as well as office-bound members operationally. Businesses have also helped, by becoming our eyes and eyes and reporting suspicious activity.”
The CCID’s two night managers have been on duty throughout the festive season to cover nighttime entertainment precincts. They have had an additional 10 PSOs – over and above the 80 who make up a standard deployment – under their coordination.
The City of Cape Town has also deployed 16 Law Enforcement officers (LEOs) to the CBD. The Long Street Association paid for eight of these for the upper Long Street area, and the CCID funded the remaining eight for deployment across the remainder of the CBD. An extra two LEOs and five CCID PSOs have also been operating in pedestrianised areas in the daytime.
The LEOs concentrate specifically on dealing with bylaw transgressions. These include drinking in public, urinating in public, fighting, and possession and dealing of drugs. They have also played a huge role in regulating motorist behaviour by enforcing non-moving violations such as double parking, parking on red lines and obstructions.
“You could say these LEOs have given more ‘bite’ to the ‘bark’ of the CCID’s PSOs as our guys have limited powers of arrest,” says CCID Safety & Security manager Muneeb Hendricks. “The LEO members have the power to issue fines for both traffic and bylaw offences, conduct stop and search operations, and issue official compliance notices when required.”
The CCID’s PSOs, meanwhile, are there primarily to provide a visible presence and all use body-worn video (BWV) units. The CCID completed the rollout of these units to all its on-the-ground PSOs in 2016. Find out more here.
“This team of LEOs and PSOs have been able to take the bull by the horns and make collective impact on hotspots such as Long Street. They have given a clear message that errant or untoward behaviour in public is not tolerated,” concludes Hendricks. “As a result, and judging by the crime stats, it appears we have once again had a relatively safe festive season in the Central City.”