Cape Town - The City of Cape Town’s anti-crime focus in the CBD has been slammed as a little too late, and reactionary, after the latest crime statistics showed that the area had seen a significant spike in reported crime.
And according to the Atlantic Seaboard and City Bowl Action Group, the City had been ignoring calls for assistance to address rising crime in the Cape Town Central precinct and surrounds long before the situation reached its current state.
Atlantic Seaboard and City Bowl Action Group chairperson Paul Jacobson said: “While we welcome the City’s interventions, it’s a bit too late.
“What’s been unveiled by the crime statistics is something residents and businesses have been saying for some time, and the City would not release a budget to address it.”
In the recently released crime statistics, Cape Town Central police station recorded the highest incidence of serious crimes, with an uptake of 49.8% between April and June 2022.
It also recorded an increase in contact crimes (41.8%), drug-related crimes (61.4%), shoplifting, commercial crime (48.3%), property-related crime (46.3%), common robbery (61.4%), burglaries at residential properties (82.5%), theft out of or from motor vehicles (46.9%) and other serious crimes (59.9%).
Jacobson said: “While the stats paint a grim picture, I imagine the actual situation is much worse considering that the majority of people have since lost faith in the SAPS and often choose not to report incidents.
“If the mayor and JP Smith had listened to us, the city’s prime tourist destination wouldn’t have been compromised.
“Now it’s among the unsafest places. However, we are looking forward to seeing the relief extra enforcement officers will bring,” he said.
Last week, mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced that soon the City would be releasing details regarding the deployment of 100 law enforcement officers to the CBD to provide a 24-hour policing presence in the business district.
Commenting on the increasing crime in the CBD, safety and security Mayco member JP Smith said the increase could be owed to the district’s change in the environment over the last two years.
Smith said: “Cape Town Central police precinct has seen increased numbers of crimes reported by the public. This trend was highlighted in previous crime statistics, which led to the City deploying additional law enforcement staff from the end of July.
“The impact of these additional officers will not yet feature in the statistics, which only measure crime until the end of June. We are confident, however, that their efforts will improve the crime situation as they are making large numbers of arrests daily since their deployment.”
In the three weeks leading up to August 15, deployed law enforcement officers in the CBD effected 184 arrests for various crimes, according to Smith.
Echoing Smith, the Central Improvement District (CCID) said it viewed the recently recorded statistics in the context of the lockdown, which began to be lifted around the time they were recorded.
CCID safety and security manager Muneeb Hendricks said: “While the stats show an increase in the number of crimes recorded at Cape Town Central during April-June 2020 and the same period in 2022, they need to be seen in the context of the pandemic.
“Today, the CBD is fully operational with hundreds of thousands of workers and visitors, and up to 30 000 vehicles coming into town every day. It stands to reason that petty crimes increased. However, at the CCID we have put mechanisms in place to deal with it.
“The stats given for Cape Town Central station are for the entire Cape Town policing precinct and the CBD only accounts for 30% of those stats,” Hendricks said.