The City of Cape Town’s Law Enforcement Department recovered nearly six times more poached marine resources over the past year while responding to more than 365,000 service requests.
Marine Living Resources recovered by officers increased from 2,540 to 14,967 during the latest 12-month reporting period.
The Marine Unit’s results formed part of broader enforcement activity that included recovering stolen infrastructure, closing illegal liquor outlets and responding to increased service requests.
Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith, attributed the Marine Unit’s results to closer cooperation with other agencies and improvements in information gathering.
“The Marine Unit’s successes are evidence of closer working relationships with other agencies responsible for policing this space, and an improved information network made possible by our reward system,” Smith said.
He said the department had also placed greater emphasis on its by-law enforcement and crime-prevention mandate, while some specialised units had been decentralised to area enforcement level.
“I’m also very impressed by the outputs in the Law Enforcement Department as a whole. In the last year, there’s been a deliberate drive to focus on the primary mandate of by-law enforcement along with crime prevention, and it shows in the statistics,” Smith said.
“There was also a decision to decentralise some of the specialised units to area enforcement level, which further boosted enforcement results.”
Law Enforcement officers have powers that include confiscating goods, making arrests, issuing compliance notices and fines, and shutting down illegal operations.
During the reporting period, officers recovered more than a kilometre of stolen copper cable and impounded 247 vehicles linked to illegal dumping.
A further 3,061 animals were impounded in terms of the Animal Keeping By-law, while nearly 37,000 square metres of graffiti was cleaned.
The department issued more than half a million fines, representing a 48% increase compared with the previous year, and closed 953 illegal shebeens.
Officers also made 11,359 arrests and recovered 172 firearms, 1,710 rounds of ammunition and 38,119.75 units of drugs.
Demand for Law Enforcement services increased during the same period, with officers attending to more than 365,000 service requests — 17% more than the previous year.
“The pressure on the department is relentless – they attended to more than 365,000 service requests in a year – a 17% increase compared to the year before,” Smith said.
He said that while violent crime receives significant attention, residents are also affected by by-law infringements in their communities.
“We speak very often about the challenges that violent crime poses, but for many people, it is the struggle with an illegal business in the street or the shebeen on the corner or noisy neighbours that threaten their right to a peaceful existence,” Smith said.
“And that is why by-law enforcement is so critical, but it’s also worth noting that much of it can be avoided if only we gave more thought to how our actions impact the lives of others,” he added.
