Cape Town - Despite a pushback by the Manenberg and Hanover Park communities against the ShotSpotter project, the City announced that the system had been rolled out in Hanover Park, with other suburbs also getting the technology.
The gunfire detection programme came to an end in July 2019 much to the communities’ applause, who said it was ineffective and a waste of taxpayers’ money.
The City said the project resulted in more than 200 lives saved, a significant reduction in both the number of shooting incidents and the number of shots per incident, and the recovery of illegal guns increasing five-fold in the areas in which it was rolled out.
The City has budgeted R30 million for the current programme, which will run for the next three years.
Safety and Security mayoral committee member JP Smith said the expansion of the system to other neighbourhoods would allow for the recovery of many more firearms, improving on the impressive recovery of firearms that Metro Police and Leap (Law Enforcement Advancement Plan) had achieved over the past year and a half.
Since going live in the first week of this month in Hanover Park, the City said the ShotSpotter had detected 68 gunfire incidents and 224 total shots fired in the coverage area.
However, Hanover Park CPF chairperson Kashiefa Mohammed said the millions spent on the project were wasted as the project failed to produce the results she said it was supposed to bring.
She said the community was “disgusted” by the manner in which it has been forced on the community yet again.
“It’s only common sense that if a pilot project has been unsuccessful, it’s only obvious to rethink and re-strategise, that’s why it’s referred to as a pilot project in the first place. These millions can be put to better use.
“We feel that the lives of our people mean nothing to those pushing the Shotspotter project. There has been no public consultation with the Hanover park community or Philippi CPF. Our community must just bear the brunt of burying our people until the real agenda is met,” she said.
Mohammed said the millions budgeted for the Shotspotter could be put to better use and be invested into the root causes of crime such as poverty alleviation, teenage school drop outs, education, and job creation.
Manenberg CPF chairperson Vernon Visagie said the Shotspotter as a concept was ineffective as the gangster had outsmarted this technology.