Cape Town has just hired 500 learner police officers

The City of Cape Town has signed employment contracts with 500 Learner Law Enforcement Officers (LLEOs) as part of its latest efforts to clamp down on crime.

The first 500 LLEOs will be deployed from February to the communities where they are needed most, the city said in a statement.

In their first few months of deployment, the officers will receive an induction which includes in-field training to orientate them in the communities where they will be deployed.

Thereafter, they will be operationally deployed, using a data-driven approach to reduce crime, the city said.

A second group of 500 LLEOs are expected to be appointed by July 2020, with the Western Cape Safety Plan ultimately hoping to deploy a total of 3,000 officers across the province.

“The deployment of the first 500 LLEOs will take place in communities most affected by violence, which is informed by data taken from the top 10 crime hotspots,” said the Western Cape’s minister of Social Development Albert Fritz.

“Through our deployment interventions and targeted violence prevention programmes, the Western Cape Safety Plan aims to halve the murder rate over the next 10 years.”

The South African Police Service (SAPS) crime statistics for 2018/19 show that Cape Town central is the police station which recorded the highest levels of crime in South Africa.

The city has battled to keep the crime rate down in a number of areas which led to president Cyril Ramaphosa deploying members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in 2019.

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