Bleak weekend as City's Emergency call centre sees increase in assault and domestic violence cases

Cape Town’s law enforcement officers arrested 18 suspects for various crimes over the weekend. This compared to the 242 arrests made in the past week.

Metro Police arrested an 18-year-old for being in possession of a 9mm pistol with a live round in the chamber. Officers were conducting general patrols on the R300 off-ramp to Stock Road, when they heard two gunshots nearby.

In a separate incident and Officers arrested a 20-year-old man for being in possession of an imitation firearm at the Company’s Garden. Other arrests made by officers includes six for the possession of a stolen vehicle in separate incidents in Hanover Park and Athlone, 4 suspects detained related to metal theft in Elsies River, and Six arrests were made related to a hijacking following a high speed chase from Observatory to Bonteheuwel

The mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith attributed the arrests to the City’s newly installed technology.

‘’That amounts to 18 arrests in just more than 48 hours, all thanks to officers being on the roads, conducting patrols, and being observant. And the list is even longer, but unfortunately, due to the volume of work done by our staff, we are not able to highlight each and every incident. We should also not forget the role that technology is playing, more and more, in our enforcement approach, as the arrests by the Highway Patrol Unit show.’’

Meanwhile, the City’s Public Emergency communication Centre saw a worrying increase in assault cases over the weekend. 178 calls were logged between Friday & Sunday. This is 45 calls more than the previous weekend.

Additionally, more than double the number of domestic violence incidents were called compared to the previous weekend

‘’It is utterly shocking, considering that the observance of the annual 16 days of activism campaign for no violence against women and children has just gotten under way. It is an indictment on our society – we simply need to do better,’’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith.

 

Done By: Mitchum George