Community Safety
With reference to the issuing of clearance certificates to law enforcement officers (LEOs) in the metropolitan area:
(1) (a) What is the process for the issuing of such certificates to LEOs, (b) which stakeholders, across the spheres of government, are responsible for the facilitation of this process, (c) what requirements must be met in order for an LEO to be provided with the certificate, (d) how many clearance certificates have been issued in (i) 2017, (ii) 2018, (iii) 2019, (vi) 2020 and (v) 2021 to date and (e) what is the turnaround time for the issuing of clearance certificates once they are submitted to the SAPS;
(2) whether any backlogs were experienced in the time frame indicated in (d); if so, (a) how were these eradicated, (b) which stakeholders supported the eradication of backlogs and (c) what were their roles therein?
The reply from the command structure of the Law Enforcement Advanced Plan (LEAP) of the City of Cape Town (CoCT):
(1) (a) The process of issuing clearance certificates is as follows:
1. Fingerprints taken from Officer and captured by Safety and Security Investigation Unit (SSIU) within CoCT.
2. Fingerprints are handed in by SSIU to the Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC) of SAPS to verify whether the applicant has a criminal record.
3. SSIU collect the results of the screening (clearance certificates) from LCRC and capture the results.
4. SSIU return fingerprints and clearance certificates to Law Enforcement of CoCT.
5. Law Enforcement attaches Peace Officer training results and competency certificates and delivers all documentation to SSIU with fingerprints and LCRC police clearance.
6. SSIU obtains SAPS 13.2 report (fitness to carry firearm) and attach the documents received from Law Enforcement.
7. SSIU add supporting letter of Executive Director for Safety and Security and delivers documents to the Office of the Provincial Commissioner of SAPS for consideration.
9. Once fitness certificates are issued by SAPS, SSIU collects the documents and deliver it to the Executive Director for Safety and Security.
10. Law enforcement collects documents from the Executive Director to finalise appointment cards to be issued by CoCT to Officer.
(b) The stakeholders responsible for the process from the CoCT and the SAPS are indicated in paragraph (a), supra.
(c) The requirements for a Law Enforcement Officer to be issued with an appointment card, are as follows:
- Appointed as a Law Enforcement Officer.
- No criminal record.
- Successfully completed prescribed training for a Law Enforcement Officer.
- Not declared unfit to carry a firearm.
(d) (i) No clearance certificates and appointment cards were issued as no LEAP officers were appointed in 2017.
(ii) No clearance certificates and appointment cards were issued as no LEAP officers were appointed in 2018.
(iii) No clearance certificates and appointment cards were issued as no LEAP officers were appointed in 2019.
(vi) 455 LEAP officers were recruited and trained during the 2020/2021 financial year, of which 439 were issued with clearance certificates and appointment cards during the same financial year.
(v) 297 LEAP officers were recruited and trained during the 2021/2022 financial year, of which 218 were issued with clearance certificates and appointment cards.
(e) The turnaround time for the issuing of clearance certificates is one to two weeks depending on how busy LCRC is.
(2) No real backlog exists. The following table reflects the status of the issuing of the clearance certificates to the last 95 LEAP officers who completed their firearm training recently in August 2021:
Description | Total |
Total number of sets of fingerprints submitted to LCRC to verify whether the applicants have criminal records (clearance certificates) | 44 |
Total number of applications being processed by SSIU before submitting it to SAPS for issuing of fitness certificates. | 51 |
Total | 95 |
(a) Not applicable.
(b) Not applicable.
(c) Not applicable.
