In efforts to rejuvenate Bellville CBD, the City of Cape Town is
ramping-up law enforcement to increase safety and boost economic activity, with
a special 50-strong policing deployment dedicated to Bellville, Mitchells Plain
and Wynberg.
Today (23 July) Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis joined an integrated
policing operation in Bellville CBD together with Mayco Member for Safety and
Security JP Smith.
The Bellville CBD has received a boost of 18 dedicated officers,
with a further 32 officers split between Mitchells Plain Town Centre and
Wynberg CBD.
These officers are in addition to the existing general deployment
of Area Law Enforcement, Traffic and Metro Police in each area. This latest
expansion to more CBDs follows the City’s successful deployment of 100 Law
Enforcement officers to Cape Town’s main CBD since July 2022, with more than 1
800 arrests made in the 2023-’24 financial year, 30% of these drug-related.
“During this morning’s integrated operation in Bellville I was
pleased to hear that our bolstered policing operations led to 39 arrests – more
than 50% of these drug-related – in June, the first full month of the new
dedicated deployment,” Mayor Hill-Lewis announced.
“We are crowding dedicated policing resources into key CBDs as
part of efforts to make Cape Town safer and boost economic activity. The 150
dedicated officers across the City Bowl, Bellville, Mitchells Plain and Wynberg
are already on the ground working to make them safer for both residents and
businesses.”
Smith said dedicated resources of the City were developing
detailed knowledge of the local challenges in each CBD, which would up the
overall quality and efficiency of policing operations.
“For communities it is an opportunity to establish relationships
and trust with the uniformed services working in their area for the benefit of
all,” he added.
Highlights from overall City policing operations for Bellville CBD
in June include:
- 39 arrests including 20
drug-related arrests - 403 searches of vehicles and
people - 351 fines issued for parking
offences - 57 fines issued for
transgressing informal trading and hawking by-laws
In total, the City has deployed an additional 26 Law Enforcement
officers and 24 Metro Police officers across the three CBDs in Bellville,
Mitchells Plain and Wynberg.
