Transport and Public Works
Whether he and his Department have plans to ensure that the Rail Enforcement Unit officers are also deployed to places other than the City centre; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
The City of Cape Town has taken responsibility for the operational management of the Rail Enforcement Unit, which will focus on both passenger and network security. While the Unit cannot be expected to fully resolve the serious issues facing rail, it is hoped that it can be an effective part of a broad and comprehensive solution to the crisis.
The deployment of the unit is targeted at those areas which record the most incidents for serious and violent crime as well as property incidents. Currently, Cape Town features at the top of this list, followed by Bellville, Chris Hani, Kapteinsklip and Nolungile Stations.
It is expected that crime patterns would shift on the success of the enforcement unit (called crime displacement) and the deployment areas would be flexible and constantly changing in order to remain unpredictable. It is hoped that the crime reduction benefits may spread to the areas immediately surrounding the targeted locations (‘diffusion of benefits’) and improve public confidence in the fighting crime, perceptions of crime, and feelings of safety.
Detailed operational plans, are understandably, confidential in nature.
