Community Safety Kiosks

What is a Safety Kiosk?

The Safety Kiosk is a mobile unit that will be deployed to an area that is in need of support to combat crime and doesn’t have a dedicated police station nearby. 

The Safety Kiosk can be moved to crime hotspot areas to assist visible policing and will be available 24/7. It will be staffed by trained personnel who’ll assist members of the public with security/safety related matters. These kiosks also provide a link between communities and the South African Police Services (SAPS) through direct communication via radio or phone line to the nearest police station.

What kind of services can I expect at a Safety Kiosk?

You can: 

• report a crime,
• report gang activity in the area,
• report suspicious behaviour in the area,
• report bad police behaviour,
• compliment good police behaviour,
• get affidavits, 
• have documents certified, and
• use the kiosk as a place of safety if you’re a victim of crime.

Why are the Safety Kiosks being deployed?

As part of the implementation of the Provincial Strategic Goal 3 (PSG 3), which is “Increasing Wellness, Safety and Tackling Social ills”, the Department of Community Safety (DOCS) has launched the Safety Partnership between the Western Cape Government, City of Cape Town and safety stakeholders across the province. 

Some of the specific outcomes of PSG 3 are:

Safety Kiosks will be used to support crime prevention by increasing visibility in hotspot areas and through daily operations, including blitzes - some of which will be in gang and crime - affected areas.

The rollout of 40 Safety Kiosks by the Department of Community Safety and relevant safety stakeholders through these new Safety Partnerships will enable communities to play an active role in identifying and resolving safety concerns that exist within their neighbourhoods.

How will mobile Safety Kiosks benefit communities?

 The aim of the kiosks is to: 

• provide communities with an easy access point to policing services, such as the certification of documents, which normally requires people to travel to the nearest police station,
• provide a link between communities and the South African Police Services (SAPS) through methods of communication such as radio or phone line between the Community Safety Kiosk and the local police station,
• provide for a safe area for victims (such as domestic violence) while awaiting a response from SAPS.

We’re working to expand the services with the Department of Community Safety partnership with the City of Cape Town’s Metro Law Enforcement and neighbourhood community safety stabilisation units who will be fully trained, vetted as certified security personnel with the City of Cape Town, appropriately equipped to deal with the fast variety of safety challenges that exist.

Developing youth working for safety with kiosk

The Department of Community Safety is forming a link between the mobile Safety Kiosks and the Chrysalis Youth Work Programme as well as the Wolwekloof Youth Work programme. The idea is to strengthen both projects through a process of nominating young people to attend the intensive training. After their training, these young people are appointed on an Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) Internship with the Department.  

The mobile Safety Kiosks are deployed through a partnership between municipalities and the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrade (VPUU) to provide a safety service to communities.

In 2016, the Department will jointly deploy the kiosks with the City of Cape Town’s Metro Law Enforcement.   The objectives of expanding this programme to municipalities, and particularly their law enforcement units, are to strengthen the visibility in our vulnerable and poor rural communities. This will allow the Department and municipalities to “unlock” EPWP work opportunities for young people working for safety in municipalities. 

To date more than 1 900 young people have been trained and placed. The Department, in partnership with the municipal law enforcement agencies deploy the EPWP youth workers to mobile Safety Kiosks on an internship basis. Internship and development work opportunities are aimed at boosting the official law enforcement staff within municipalities and security staff at improvement districts.

Making the Western Cape safer together

The plan for the future is to procure more kiosks that will be donated to the safety partners.

Safety is everyone’s responsibility and every person in the Western Cape should support the mobile Safety Kiosks. Now is the time to get actively involved in the safety of your area and to help make your community safer by working with the different spheres of government, safety stakeholders and the police.