Community Safety

The Department of Community Safety (DoCS) is one of the Departments responsible for the implementation of Provincial Strategic Goal (PSG) 3: Increasing Wellness, Safety and Tackling Social Ills. To achieve the related strategic objectives through the whole-of-society approach where every citizen take active ownership of their personal safety and that of their families and community, the Department developed the Community Safety Improvement Partnership (CSIP).

With the advent of the DCSIP project during July 2016, focussing specifically on the community of Drakenstein, the PSG 3 steering committee established what has become known as an “Integrated Service Delivery Area”.

Identified as the ideal vehicle to operationalise the “Living Lab”, the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) programme established the Drakenstein Action Committee (DRK ACT) role-players forum.

The following projects are being implemented:

Alcohol Harms Reduction Game Changer

The purpose of this project is to reduce alcohol related harm. Three levers have been identified to reach this goal. These levers include the following:

Lever 1: Reduced access to alcohol

Lever 2: Enhanced participation in recreational and economic alternatives

Lever 3: Reduced alcohol consumption of high risk users and youth

The Department of Community Safety is providing training and support to 36 NHW members in the Smarty Town and Fairyland areas. These Neighbourhood Watch members are mainly involved in the alcohol harms reduction project. On a monthly basis the project pays about 23 of these volunteers through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). These neighbourhood watch members collect data regarding illegal alcohol sales and serves as a point of entry for the Department of Community Safety to further engage with illegal liquor outlet owners.

The Department also provides a platform for the law enforcement agencies to coordinate their activities within the area to enhance law enforcement operations against the illegal trade of liquor. Operations against the illegal trade of liquor are planned and executed in conjunction with the Western Cape Liquor Authority (WCLA), SAPS and Drakenstein municipality.  The Department further coordinates alcohol harms reduction activities between the different departments which include the Departments of Health, Social Development, Cultural Affairs and Sport, and Economic Development and Tourism.

The Department donated a safety kiosk to the Drakenstein Municipality and supports the deployment of the safety kiosk.

Monthly DRK ACT meetings were institutionalised and the Department has been an active member since September 2015.

To further institutionalise its involvement within DCSIP, Security Risk Management within the Department assisted in the development of an Integrated Security Plan focusing on safety and security initiatives during the role-out of the Mass Opportunity and Development (MOD) and the Youth Lifestyle Centre (YLC) initiatives at the New Orleans Secondary School.

The Integrated Safety and Security Plan has seen the deployment of eighteen (18) WCG Security Officials at the New Orleans Secondary School since August 2016 to provide access control measures during the MOD and YLC activities.

Other activities include:

Conducted a CPF training workshop to the Groot Drakenstein District Municipality (GDDM) and all the CPFs falling under the Winelands Cluster on 4 June 2016

The Department has placed Chrysalis graduates through the EPWP programme to render administrative support to the Paarl East CPF and enhance the performance of the CPF on the Department’s Expanded Partnership Programme (EPP). The Department is in the process of the placement of another Chrysalis graduate to provide administrative assistance to the Mbekweni CPF. Paarl East CPF has earned R13 644.33 on the EPP since the beginning of the 2016/17 financial year.

The Paarl East CPF was awarded matching grant funding by the Department for their Youth Day community safety event.

The Paarl East police station was audited in September 2015 by the Department as part of its oversight function and base line data is available in relation to the National Monitoring Tool and Domestic Violence Act audits. Follow up audits are conducted each quarter.

The Western Cape Police Ombudsman has conducted awareness programmes in the area.

Policing Needs and Priorities were identified during an engagement with the community and relevant role-players and a safety plan was developed for the cluster.

The Watching Brief team is observing Paarl court cases in order to identify systemic failures and then report to SAPS management.

Currently there are 21 youth placed in Paarl East on the Youth Work Programme and an additional 13 female youth currently on training at the Chrysalis Academy will be placed after graduation on the 3rd of December 2016.

The following four organisations applied and received funding for the implementation of the Easter and July School Holiday period in 2016:

-           Solid Rock Life Skills education Trust;

-           Uniting Student Association of SA;

-           Community Women Action; and

-           African Methodist Episcopal Church.

33 youth from the Drakenstein municipality received Safety and Security training, 7 youth received Peace Officer training and 12 youth from Chicago in partnership with the Department of Social Development received job readiness skills.