Crime in the Cape Town CBD dropped by 56.5 % from the onset of restrictions to stem the coronavirus epidemic in March 2020 until March 2021, compared with the same period in 2019-2020, according to cases recorded by the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID).
CCID Safety & Security manager Muneeb Hendricks says the number of incidents across the CCID’s five top crime categories fell from 1 624 cases to only 705 cases in this time frame.
Hendricks attributes this outstanding reduction in crime to the CCID’s successful implementation of a preventative deployment strategy during lockdown, as well as effective collaboration with its primary partners, SAPS and City of Cape Town Law Enforcement.
The CCID has over 300 Public Safety Officers on patrol 24/7 in its 1.6 km² footprint in downtown Cape Town.
CCID CEO Tasso Evangelinos says as a public-private company offering essential services in the Cape Town CBD, the CCID remained fully operational from day one of the nationwide lockdown. Says Evangelinos, “Our teams were on the ground, providing visible policing of the Central City, 24/7. We were successful because we swiftly adapted our strategies to meet the new demands in the CBD and worked closely with our primary partners.”
CCID Safety & Security manager Muneeb Hendricks chats to a CCID Public Safety Officer. Note: This image was taken in 2020 before the wearing of masks became mandatory.
ADAPTING CRIME-PREVENTION STRATEGIES
Hendricks says the CCID’s Safety & Security teams achieved these excellent results through intelligent deployment of its PSOs and an adaptable operational strategy that was altered according to the varying levels of lockdown. “Our initial focus at the start of lockdown was to protect properties, people and possessions in the Cape Town CBD. But lockdown has been a rollercoaster ride of constantly changing procedures. If we had stagnated and just done the same thing, I don’t think we would have managed to maintain the CBD in the way that we did.”
When full lockdown hit on 26 March 2020, the CCID Safety and Security team was immediately on high alert. In the first three days, there were seven attempted break-ins, but the team was ready and apprehended all 14 suspects. This sent a strong message and break-in attempts went down to zero during this period.
As the lockdowns eased, the team shifted focus to entertainment areas – specifically restaurants and shops. It also looked at how to provide additional services to make people feel safe, such as residential checks, escorts for people navigating the less busy streets of the CBD, and security for business owners at opening and closing times. “We wanted to create an extra feeling of safety so people could come and open up the economy again.”
CRIME CATEGORIES
Hendricks says the biggest crime category during level one lockdown was antisocial behaviour. “Aggressive begging, drug use and drinking in public still dominated. Once lockdown eased and more people came back to town, the focus went back to contact crimes, theft out of vehicles and common robbery (which is mostly pickpocketing).”
While the reduced footfall into the CBD and lockdown restrictions such as curfews and the alcohol bans contributed to fewer crimes being committed, he believes the biggest factor was the Safety & Security department’s preventative deployment strategy. “Also, by working with our partners to limit the opportunity for people to commit crimes, we brought the numbers way down,” he says.
He adds that the CCID’s strategy always involves limiting opportunities to commit crime. “We rely on a proper deployment strategy based on intelligence, crime statistics, our incidence reporting system, telephonic complaints, and observations. We map these factors, so the system can show us patterns. This allows us to deploy resources smartly to the correct areas at the right times.”
The CCID Safety & Security team, from left: Alec van de Rheede (Assistant manager), Muneeb Hendricks (Manager), Gary Dyssel and Martinus "TJ" Jenkins (Night managers).
CCID MEETS COVID-19 CHALLENGES
The wide-reaching impact of the coronavirus pandemic proved to be challenging for the CCID and its primary partners, but effective joint crime-prevention operations went a long way to stabilizing the CBD.
“We worked together with our primary partners – the City of Cape Town, Metro Police, Law Enforcement and SAPS – to achieve more. We successfully ran many joint crime-prevention operations – which are ongoing – and covered for one another when Covid-19 affected numbers. We worked together to inculcate a culture of law abidance in the CBD.”
Communication was key, and the Safety & Security Team worked with the CCID’s Communication department to run awareness campaigns to enlist the public in crime-prevention efforts. Additionally, the team worked with local business partners to band together to rejuvenate key areas like Long Street. And it partnered with the CCID Urban Development team to ensure the city was clean and “manicured” and with the CCID’s Social Development department to provide support for homeless individuals.
Evangelinos concludes, “During this past year, it was imperative for the CCID to engage with our stakeholders and work closely with our primary partners so that we could effectively attend to new crime issues as a matter of urgency. By working together, we have worked wonders in the Cape Town CBD. I am very proud of the CCID’s teams across its four departments who all had a role to play and I thank the City’s Safety & Security Directorate for their cooperation and our primary partners, SAPS and City Law Enforcement.”
KEY LOCKDOWN CRIME STATISTICS RECORDED BY THE CCID
Comparing the year March 2019 – March 2020 with March 2020 – March 2021, the CCID Safety & Security department:
- Reduced the total cases of crime (across the top five categories) by 56.5 %
- Reduced theft (across the board) by 59 %
- Reduced theft out a motor vehicle by 72 %
- Reduced robberies by 67 %
- Reduced common robberies by 70 %
- Reduced ATM fraud by 95.5 %
- Increased arrests for drug cases by 3 %
- Increased arrests of people in possession of stolen goods by 45 %
- Reduced fighting in public by 56 %
IMAGES: CCID