7 March 2022
Statement by Executive Mayor Gesie van Deventer
Stellenbosch is determined to become the safest Municipality by 2025.
Today I had the honour of unveiling the new state-of-the-art municipal control room as an important step towards achieving this goal.
This facility will act as a centralised based from where efforts to combat crime and respond to incidents will be managed. The control room will also house all partners of the Stellenbosch Safety Initiative (SSI), a collaborative umbrella organisation that brings together various private and public safety partners operating across our area.
What is amazing, is that this collaboration of all security agencies now has the entire Municipality under safety surveillance – from Raithby to Klapmuts, from Kayamandi to Franschhoek, from Pniel to Cloetesville and Ida’s Valley to Jamestown.
The SSI is a first in our country and since its establishment, many municipalities have adopted this model to form their own public-private safety partnerships. The SSI currently includes municipal Law Enforcement, Traffic Services, Disaster Management, the South African Police Services (SAPS), Community Policing Forums, Neighbourhood Watches, Campus Security as well as various private security companies.
This facility will ensure the effective sharing of intelligence, efficient coordination of responses and faster reaction times when responding to crime-related incidents in our communities.
The new control room has live feeds to numerous CCTV cameras and 67 License Plate Recognition (LPR) cameras placed at various sites across the entire municipal area. These numbers will be increased in the months and years to come. The facility also houses a specialised war room with state-of-the-art information and communication technology equipment in order to better facilitate our responses during times of crisis. There are currently 12 control room operators employed at the facility, working in shifts of 3 persons at a time to ensure 24 hour coverage, 7 days a week.
Apart from all this, the control room will act as a central place from where all alarms at municipal properties are monitored, the tracking of municipal vehicles can happen in real time and the after-hours switchboard as well as the municipal WhatsApp line is operated around the clock.
Members of the public can contact the control room when in need of any assistance. They are available 24/7 on 021 808 8999 or you can report any issue via the dedicated WhatsApp line on 079 622 4722.
This beautiful control room will serve residents of our municipality for generations to come and will ensure safer streets and safer communities for all.
