Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis launched the City of Cape Town’s new Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) and Metro Police Aviation Unit, with JP Smith, Mayco member for Safety and Security this week.

The City said Swat will provide highly skilled support in combatting serious crime and responding to high-risk incidents beyond conventional policing, to combat crime in faster, safer and smarter ways, accompanied by aerial surveillance.

“The Swat and aerial surveillance units form part of our broader safety investments,” Hill-Lewis said at the launch, held at 100 Fairway Close in Parow on Wednesday 7 October. “These include more than 1 300 new City police officers, who have been added in this term of office, a new Highway Patrol unit, major safety technology roll-out and a new state-of-the-art digital nerve centre to coordinate all City policing operations.”

The Mayor said the City’s growing policing capacity showed officers were ready for expanded powers, particularly to investigate gang-related, gun and drug-related crime.

“We must make full use of all policing resources in Cape Town to bring a positive change for communities living in daily fear of violent crime,” he said.

Hill-Lewis also noted a 35% increase in police requests to view City footage for investigations over the last year, which he said increased the chances of successful convictions as the City works to expand its digital coordination and safety technology network.

Swat unit

The Swat unit will provide support for combating gang-related activity and extortion, executing high-risk warrants of arrest, hostage and barricaded suspect support to the police, and security at high-profile events.

Smith said the unit was equipped with an armoured vehicle, modern firearms and other advanced technology, including night vision and heat detection.

“Expert Swat team members have extensive police Special Task Force experience and are further supporting the City’s Training College to develop a detailed curriculum for future growth and continuity in this critical metro policing capacity.”

Aerial surveillance

The Metro Police Aviation Unit includes officers with pilot certification, four types of aircraft for different operational needs, and specialised vehicles with connectivity, off-grid power, and external monitors.

Its key support areas include crime hotspot patrols, crowd and event management, suspect tracking and surveillance, search and rescue, and land-protection monitoring.

Detection is enhanced by thermal and zoom cameras, with AI-assisted tracking and a laser rangefinder to pinpoint the exact locations of suspects and activity, for example, in bush or across rooftops. A live overhead picture is streamed to control centres, helping to direct and protect officers on the ground. High-resolution imagery and scene mapping document evidence to support case dockets for investigations.

The unit can also provide a visible aerial presence to deter crime, including loudspeaker messaging and a night spotlight.

“Air support is a force multiplier,” Smith said, “widening what officers can see and shortening the time to a confident, safe decision. We have seen that drone flights and surveillance support early crime-fighting successes and arrests.”

Early operational successes

The units have already recorded several operational successes, including:

• Intelligence-led arrests in Delft, Somerset West and Strand;
• A drug arrest in Tafelsig;
• Tracking and arrest of a wanted suspect on the run in Elsies River;
• Traffic and highway incident support;
• Support at beaches for liquor confiscations and enforcement.

New digital nerve centre

The live demonstration by the new specialised units was conducted at the Joint Policing Services Operational Centre, the City’s new digital nerve centre, which will integrate all City policing resources and safety technologies deployed throughout the metro.

The centre, now in the final stages of becoming operational, will integrate a range of existing and emerging policing technologies, including drones operated through the City’s Aviation Unit as well as third-party service providers, body-worn cameras, in-vehicle cameras and Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology, citizen and trusted partner apps to strengthen communication and information sharing, and artificial intelligence and automation.

The City will soon have 3 000 body-worn cameras in the field, while 530 enforcement vehicles have in-vehicle cameras with Automatic Number Plate Recognition functionality and printers for warrants and summons.

“The various safety tech solutions we’ve introduced help create a real-time operational picture to improve situational awareness and inform decision-making,” said Smith. “We are now at a point where officers can stream live feeds to our operations centre from their mobile cameras, augmented by drone, Automatic Number Plate Recognition and CCTV footage. I am excited to see how we can keep building on this to advance public safety into the future.”

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