LEAP officers’ brave work showing results

Today, the Minister of Community Safety, Albert Fritz, expressed his appreciation to LEAP officers for the work that they’re doing in bolstering law enforcement in the Metro and bringing criminals to book.

During crime prevention patrols on 12 June 2021 in Khayelitsha, officers apprehended a suspect who had in his possession a 9mm firearm with 7 rounds. Also on 12 June, officers in Bonteheuwel found and arrested a female suspect in possession of 12 Mandrax tablets, 11 halves and 21 small unga units. She is also suspected of dealing.

Yesterday in Khayelitsha, LEAP Officers were asked to assist with a Toyota Avanza that had been hijacked. When LEAP Officers approached the vehicle on the N2, they noticed that the suspects were offloading 17 children from the vehicle. When the suspects saw the LEAP Officers, they fled the scene. A suspect was arrested and the vehicle impounded.

Minister Fritz said, “I would like to commend the LEAP Officers for the work that they are doing in our communities. These are all significant wins in themselves, but they also averted horror stories which we perhaps will never know of. What criminality was going to ensue at the hands of the suspect with the unlicensed firearm? What gender-based violence has been avoided because somewhere out there a husband didn’t come home high out of his mind? And the hijacking with the children in the vehicle – I don’t even want to speculate about the possibilities with that one!”

The reports emerge as the Western Cape Government continues to implement different initiatives as part of the Provincial Safety Plan.

The Provincial Cabinet is  due to discuss proposed amendments to the Western Cape Liquor Act, which is aimed at putting in place a viable Alcohol Harms Reduction strategy as it has been shown that the abuse of alcohol leads to a significant proportion of trauma cases. It is also envisaged that additional Law Enforcement Officers are deployed in the coming weeks.

Minister Fritz: “We are determined to see a drop in the crime figures. We are currently working on the amendments to the Liquor Act to bring down alcohol-related harms, because we know this is a serious problem in our society. Government has also furthermore deployed 500 LEAP Officers, and we are on track to deploy a further 250 in the next few weeks, and another 250 on 1 October.”

Minister Fritz concluded, “these successes and the progress we are making would not be possible without the good relationship that we have managed to develop with the South African Police Service. We look forward to continuing this partnership with the City of Cape Town Metro Police and the South African Police Service. We are marching on steadily towards the vision of a safe Western Cape for all our citizens.”