Between 12 – 18 September 2022, Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) officers confiscated 6 illegal firearms and arrested of 123 individuals for a variety of crimes. This means in the space of two weeks, since 5 – 18 September 2022, 13 illegal firearms have been removed off our streets and 302 individuals have been arrested.
LEAP is an initiative of the Western Cape Government (WCG) and is run in partnership with the City of Cape Town.
The confiscation of firearms occurred in Gugulethu, Bishop Lavis, Delft and Nyanga.
Minister Reagen Allen said: “The LEAP officers along with their partners should be commended for their continued effort to create safer communities. Their constant visibility shows the importance of having extra boots on the ground, as this helps ensure that communities feel safer.”
In this same time period, LEAP officers have amongst others:
- Searched 7 411 persons
- Searched 293 houses
- Conducted 1 123 patrols in hotspot areas
- Conducted 122 roadblocks
- Searched 830 vehicles
Of the 123 persons that were arrested, 1 was arrested for the possession of an illegal firearm, 6 for the possession of illegal ammunition, 5 for the possession of an imitation firearm, 77 for the possession of drugs and 14 for the possession of dangerous weapons.
As LEAP officers work with a multitude of law enforcement agencies, they conducted 179 joint and Integrated operations with other City of Cape Town Law Enforcement Agencies and SAPS.
LEAP officers stem from the WCG’s Safety Plan, which was initiated in September 2019. The Safety Plan, which is the brainchild of Premier Alan Winde, came about as a result of the WCG’s commitment to address the high murder rate in the province. The primary aim is to reduce the murder rate by 50% by 2029. The Western Cape Government and City of Cape Town work in partnership to deliver LEAP.
The operational strategy and deployment of the various teams is based on available evidence and data led. This approach is also used as part of monitoring and evaluation to determine the effectiveness of LEAP and inform a cycle of continuous improvement. This includes our top 10 murder areas in the Western Cape, such as Delft, Gugulethu, Harare, Khayelitsha (Site B policing precinct), Kraaifontein, Mfuleni, Mitchells Plain, Nyanga, Philippi East, and Samora Machel. Other high crime areas in which they are deployed are Atlantis, Bishop Lavis and Hanover Park, along with Lavender Hill, Steenberg and Grassy Park.
Minister Reagen Allen added: “LEAP’s strategic and deliberate deployment will continue, as it’s directly working in areas that require these extra resources. The National Minister continues to fail the Western Cape by not providing the resources that are required, but we’re not sitting on our laurels, and instead is going the extra mile for our citizens. LEAP, and the manner in which they are managed is but an introduction to what SAPS would look like once they are devolved to a capable province such as ours.”
LEAP incorporates information from the WCG’s Safety Dashboard. This dashboard is providing real-time data to provincial safety stakeholders and helps identify exactly where the LEAP officers are most required. This strengthens our hand to anticipate where new hotspots may appear so that we can deploy the necessary resources to prevent crime and save lives. The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) data is set to be integrated with the Safety Dashboard, to provide us with a more complete picture of violence and trauma in the province, upon which we can launch our LEAP response.
“We should never lose the appetite in our fight against crime,” concluded Minister Allen.
