- Kraaifontein residents are outraged after the City of Cape Town redeployed Leap officer, despite Kraaifontein being one of the province’s most violent areas.
- With rising murder and attempted murder rates, locals are concerned about safety.
- The City says Leap officers were moved to higher-crime zones, but a 120-member Reaction Unit will still support Kraaifontein.
There is an outcry among the community of Kraaifontein over the alleged withdrawal and redeployment of all Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (Leap) officers from Kraaifontein to Philippi by the City of Cape Town; this despite the gang-ridden suburb being the seventh most violent suburb in the province.
Specially trained Leap officers were introduced in 2020 as part of the Western Cape Safety plan, a joint initiative between the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Government – its aim to stabilise crime in hotspot areas.
The primary focus of Leap, as stated by the Western Cape Government in 2020, was the deployment of more law enforcement officers within the top 10 crime areas that included Kraaifontein to make communities feel safer. These officers were dedicated to these areas based on data and crime trends, and did indeed in the years that followed make a dent in the high crime stats in Kraaifontein.
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Kraaifontein CPF chair Rob Bisset told TygerBurger he was deeply perturbed by this decision. “They are making a big mistake by taking away something that is very critical in an area where there is already a big shortage of policemen. Leap officers have played a big part in the combat against crime in Kraaifontein,” he said.
The community Facebook page Kraailove last Friday posted about the issue saying the redeployment was brought under their attention, a fact that was later corroborated by a reliable TygerBurger source.
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According to the source the officers left the area on Sunday.
“The officers told community members that they are leaving and came to say goodbye,” says the source. Tagging Cape Town Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith in the post on the community Facebook page, it was asked in Afrikaans, “Is dit waar? Wat van die mense? Wat van ons veiligheid? Hoekom iets weghaal wat werk? Ons kan nie die beamptes verloor nie. Want dan gaan ons plek weer word soos wat dit was.”
Concerned members of the community Johannes Kayster and Amelia Fredericks commented on the post asking how, with the current high crime statistics, a move like that is justified.
Also Loriaan Croy asked, “How does this happen? JP, you are safe where you are, but what about our children?
In another post Kraailove thanked Leap officers for everything they had done for the community saying they will “fight to get them back”.
City responds
In response to a media inquiry to the City of Cape Town, Smith did not as such confirm nor deny the withdrawal of the officers from Kraaifontein.
Smith said: “The City’s law enforcement department had initiated a double-up trial deployment for LEAP, to proactively combat the evolving organised crime and extortion syndicates plaguing communities in crime hotspots, by increasing resources in six police precincts.”
The precincts listed for increased deployment for the trial period were Delft, Khayelitsha, Phillipi East, Nyanga, Mitchells Plain and Gugulethu.
Smith continued to say Leap will redeploy members from “less affected” precincts to bolster and focus on these six precincts.
However, the latest quarterly crime statistics placed Kraaifontein as the third highest precinct in the province for serious crimes reported by the community.
The murder rate showed an increase of 86,2%, and more than 100% increase in attempted murder. Smith continued to say that the decision was made in consultation with the South African Police Service after a successful trial in Delft that started in 2023.
“(Here) increased resources had a demonstrable impact, taking into consideration factors such as murder statistics, operational imperatives and the past twelve quarterly crime stats releases.”
Reaction Unit
He stated that a Reaction Unit of 120 members will continue to support Kraaifontein and other areas in the City.
“The City has increasingly been investing in technology as a force multiplier to be a critical addition in it’s efforts to disrupt syndicates and gangs that are turning our communities into war zones.
“The Leap programme must always remain dynamic in adapting to the needs of the ever-changing war against crime.
“The changed strategy will deploy more Leap officers to the worst crime areas for maximum impact, while the Reaction Unit will ensure immediate response to a flare-up in any other part of Cape Town. Critical lessons have been learnt since the initial deployment of LEAP and the recently signed cooperation agreement with the police allows the Leap partners to reconsider the deployment patterns and explore different strategies to make Cape Town safer.”
