The City’s sheriff, JP Smith, says authorities are concerned about an increase in violence after the Public Emergency Communication Centre recorded 175 physical assault calls in just one weekend.
Of these, 108 being had been linked to weapons.
Smith is appealing to neighbourhood watches to assist their teams in reporting domestic violence and assault cases.
He says the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre (PECC) recorded 1 761 calls for assistance over the past weekend, which included 175 for physical assault and 51 for domestic violence.
“The number of physical assault calls received by the PECC this past week is the highest for the weekends in June,” Smith says.
“This has become a worrying trend especially during month-end weekends.
“Most of these cases involve some sort of weapon, which increases the level of violence and the possibility that someone will be injured.
“I urge communities and Neighbourhood Watches to assist our officers by reporting assault and domestic violence incidents.
“The number could be higher as victims often don’t report it because of fear or intimidation.”
Metro Police officers arrested 64 suspects, of which 42 were for drug related charges, three for driving under the influence of alcohol and 19 others, which included contact, firearm and property related crime and domestic violence, amongst others.
Smith adds: “As a municipality we have used our own resources to place more boots on the ground, we have invested in the Metro Police Gang and Task Team, to deploy directly into the gang areas
“Over the last few weeks, there has been a flare up in gang violence in Ottery, Hanover Park, Manenberg and other areas and we have brought in additional staff on overtime.”
Last month Premier Alan Winde and the office of the Police Oversight and Community Safety called for the national Police Ministry to reveal the fourth quarter crime statistics which were due to have been released in May already.