In recent weeks and months, the Safety and Security Directorate has played host to delegations from several local municipalities, the Gauteng Provincial Government and Ireland. All of them have been interested in key aspects of the best practice and innovations that the directorate has been implementing in its drive to make Cape Town a safer city.
The visits investigated the City’s use of CCTV in combatting crime and traffic control, as well as the introduction of kerbside parking instead of parking meters and the enforcement thereof.
The delegations were particularly interested in examining the following aspects of the City’s safety and security programmes:
- The CCTV control room and its operations
- The training facility in Observatory
- The Metals Theft Unit, commonly known as the Copperheads and its operations
- The Drug Unit and its operations
- The Ghost Squad, a division of Traffic Services, and their operations
All of the delegations were impressed with what the directorate has achieved. The stability created in the Metro Police Department was particularly noteworthy, as this type of environment does not exist anywhere else in the country.
The City’s Emergency Services and their current equipment and resource levels were also of keen interest to the visitors.
A delegation from the Bitou Municipality (Plettenberg Bay) will be visiting at the end of this week to examine the City’s Central Improvement District initiatives and models, along with the joint CCTV installations
