Looking at residents’ comments on social media about the Law Enforcement Department of the Saldanha Bay Municipality (SBM), it is clear there is confusion about what the department’s jurisdiction is and when they can and cannot act.
Weslander asked Tereza Burger, communications officer of SBM, to explain exactly why Law Enforcement exists and what its mandate and function are.
She said its core function within the municipality is the enforcement of municipal bylaws and protection and safeguarding of municipal assets and infrastructure.
Subsequently, the Law Enforcement section collaborates and works in conjunction with external stakeholders, such as neighbourhood watches, community policing forums and the South African Police Services (Saps), with the shared objective to prioritise crime prevention in the area.
Land-invasion monitoring and the demolishing of illegal structures are also priority functions, enforced by the municipal Law Enforcement section.
Consequently, crime prevention remains the core function and mandate of the police.
“The Law Enforcement personnel are peace officers in the community, and they have the power to confiscate unsolicited goods, issue compliance notices and fines, and shut down illegal operations where bylaws are infringed on.”
Law Enforcement Operations are regulated by an operational plan based on a decentralisation model that divides the municipal area into a southern and northern region.
The personnel work on a shift system, which includes night-time duties.
Burger said that, as indicated, the officers have the right to, for example, confiscate goods and they do not have to call the police when executing their duties.
“Law Enforcement in the past was seen as ‘dog catchers’, and subsequently, about seven years ago, the function of Law Enforcement was formalised with the key objective to enforce applicable municipal bylaws.”
SBM currently employs seventeen permanent law enforcement officers with an appointed Chief of Law Enforcement.
