'REPORT SHOOTINGS'

FOLLOWING another weekend of deadly shootings, City of Cape Town Mayco member for Safety and Security JP Smith has called on mense to in gang hotspots to make their stemme dik.

Using the hi-tech Shotspotter system, the City’s law enforcement agencies are able to track and pinpoint the exact location where shots are fired. 

They have placed the system in what they believe to be the hardest-hit gang-infested areas - like Nyanga, Hanover Park, Manenberg, and Lavender Hill

And Smith reported that while there have been over 350 incidents of gun violence over the last 30 days, some of it is not being reported by these communities.  

In post on Facebook he says: “[On Saturday] morning, past 5am, two gunshots rang out on the streets of Hanover Park. No one called to report it, so SAPS would never have known. But we knew about it...

“In less than a minute, we had the exact location from our Shotspotter system. We immediately dispatched our resources and notified SAPS.

“For years, firearm violence has been ignored. Unless someone died, no police case was ever opened, and without the docket, no record was established. 

“There was never any proof why these areas needed more boots on the ground from SAPS.

“We knew we needed the evidence, so we could compel national government to send more reinforcements to these stations. Our communities deserved better.

"In a bold move, our municipality funded the Shotspotter program in the 4 areas we suspected as being the worst affected. And we were right!

“This has already allowed us to recover hundreds of firearms and perform even more arrests.

“Our communities need additional resources for more police on the ground and more detectives - those arrested must have their crimes investigated, and they need to be convicted in court and removed from society, not just released and recycled back into the community.”

“Let's work together to make our communities safer.”