Dear Editor
Over the past five financial years approximately 71% of the Western Cape’s 151 police stations have seen a decrease in the number of officers allocated to them. As such, this means there are 804 fewer police officers situated at stations in the province than there were back in 2017. This was revealed by the South African Police Service in response to a DA parliamentary question.
These numbers once again highlight the under-resourcing we face in the Western Cape in terms of the allocations towards our crime-fighting efforts. When reading the police officer deployments in conjunction with the latest Recorded Crime Statistics between October and December 2021, a number of concerning trends emerge at the following police stations:
- Cape Town Central, where deployment allocations fell from 525 to 425, experienced an increase of 30.8% in contact crimes;
- Belhar, where deployment allocations fell from 103 to 94, experienced an increase of 162.5% in attempted murders;
- Oudtshoorn, where deployment allocations fell from 310 to 286, experienced an increase of 146.2% in attempted murders; and
- Lingelethu West, where deployment allocations fell from 40 to 34, experienced an increase of 78.9% in robberies at residential premises.
In addition to these trends, the disparities in police-to-population ratios further paint a disturbing picture. For example, Wynberg has a 1:201 police-to-population ratio whilst Gugulethu has a ratio of 1:773. Even though these ratios exclude specialised units, it still shows how inefficient national SAPS is in determining allocations of officers and resources to communities who need it the most.
It is for this reason why the DA-led provincial government has deployed the 1 056 LEAP officers to the crime hotspots in the Western Cape, as we can no longer wait for the national government to keep our communities safe.
Regards
Ricardo Mackenzie, MPP
DA Western Cape Acting Spokesperson on Community Safety
