Cape Town - The recruitment of the 3000 new law enforcement officers promised in Premier Alan Winde’s Provincial Safety Plan has officially begun after the approval of the Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (Leap) by the City’s mayoral committee.
The Leap will guide the City’s efforts to bolster the Provincial Safety Plan, launched by the premier earlier this year, and while it is up to the City to train and deploy the first batch of 500 officers to help combat crime, the bulk of the funding for the scheme will come from the provincial government.
New recruits are set to hit the ground running in February next year. On Thursday, Winde briefed the standing committee on the premier and constitutional matters on the key priorities of the plan whose funding was outlined by Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC David Maynier in his mini-budget on Tuesday.
“The provincial government is partnering with the City to fund, train and deploy these additional law enforcement officers, and we will review the size of the role, and powers, of our provincial traffic services and security support team to further enhance their capabilities,” said Winde.
The province would continue to engage with police on police resourcing in the province especially in relation to visible policing and addressing high levels of violent crime. He added that the province would ramp up its Court Watching Brief Unit.
“It is envisaged that up to 150 investigators will be recruited in the next five years, with 50 of these in the next 12 months.”
@MwangiGithahu