By Julie Berman
Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has issued more than 83 000 fines and made more than 130 arrests within the past week, it said on Tuesday.
Out of these, traffic officers arrested 71 suspects and impounded 115 vehicles and 47 cell phones. LEAP, or the Law Enforcement Advancement Plan, officers recorded various arrests during the past week.
On Sunday, LEAP officers arrested four suspects allegedly involved in an armed robbery at Cash Crusaders in Hanover Park.
The suspects were charged with armed robbery, illegal possession of a firearm, illegal possession of ammunition, possession of a stolen vehicle, and possession of presumed stolen property.
Mayco Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, said the “the swift action and successful arrests” by the LEAP officers demonstrated their operational effectiveness in assisting other City enforcement agencies and the South African Police Service.
“The LEAP project, in partnership with the Western Cape Provincial Government, created the positions for the first 500 officers who were assigned to the highest crime areas in Cape Town,” he said.
“Currently, the next 500 officers are being trained and once they complete their training, they will be deployed to assist in high crime areas.”
Meanwhile, metro police officers issued 499 fines for by-law transgressions and arrested 58 suspects – 31 being for illegal possession or drug dealing.
On Friday, a well-known drug house on the island of Msindweni in Khayelitsha was searched and a man was arrested for possession of marijuana and methamphetamine.
“We will continue with our crime prevention interventions and will initiate new programmes to increase our effectiveness. The operational successes the past week showed that our integrated approach in dealing with criminals pays off,” said Smith.
“If a member of the public is aware of a criminal activity, they should immediately inform our enforcement agencies – we need to stop the criminal activity at the source before a crime is committed.”
African News Agency (ANA)