The Fees Must Fall protests at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), the State of the Nation Address (SONA) and the Mining Indaba were all successfully policed and monitored by the SAPS and nothing major was reported.
This was heard at this month’s community police forum (CPF) meeting, held last Thursday, February 14, at Cape Town Central police station.
Station manager Brigadier Hansia Hansraj thanked partners and key role-players in combating crime in the city.
She said the station has six additional staff members and they still need more to prevent crime especially in Sector 1, which is the CBD.
While police have seen a slight decrease in theft out of motor vehicles, concerns were raised about the robberies taking place in the city centre.
“We’ve reduced crime but we feel like we hadn’t done as much as we ‘d have liked. January was not a good month for us in terms of contact crimes,” she said.
Another issue raised in the meeting was that of homeless people and aggressive begging throughout the city, especially Long Street.
Brigadier Hansraj said Sea Point and Woodstock were experiencing an influx of homeless people.
“We’re working continuously on the matter. Tourism is needed but tourists are being targeted,” she said.
Colonel Andre Coetzee said the homeless issue was not a policing issue but it brings a bad image to the city and causes people to no longer want to come here.
He commended the neighbourhood watches and LPR camera network group for their exceptional work.
The station made 782 arrests this month.
“Getting them off the street is important. The next step is to get them to the magistrate,” said Colonel Coetzee.