Community Safety:
With respect to the Department’s proposed broadening of responsibilities:
(a) What is the current timeline of implementation and (b) with an emphasis placed on expanding its oversight role, (i) what new roles would the Department take on and (ii) how much would this cost to execute?
(a) The timeline to start implementing is 1 April 2022.
(b) (i) Following the Premier’s SOPA, the Department will place greater additional emphasis on our constitutional oversight role to influence national SAPS policy and allocation of resources to the Western Cape. We will therefore significantly expand our monitoring of police stations across the province, with a focus on gender-based violence and domestic violence responses, police conduct, visible policing, and crime investigation efficiency. In light of the afore-mentioned, the Department will be renamed the Department of Police Oversight and Community. A 151 police stations and specialised units will be assessed.
The Department will support rural safety by exploring the integration of technology to co-ordinate safety efforts with the aim of impacting the high levels of crime.
(ii) The Department will execute this mandate within the current allocated budget.
