Meyer announces new rural safety measures
In response to the Western Cape Government’s undertaking to create safer communities, the Western Cape Department of Agriculture has established a rural safety desk and a rural safety monitoring dashboard.
Commenting on the establishment of the desk, Western Cape Minister of Agriculture Dr Ivan Meyer said the desk provides a platform for the public, farmers/producers, agri-workers and agricultural stakeholders to log enquiries, queries, and matters on rural safety.
“Information logged via the desk is populated on the department’s innovative rural safety monitoring dashboard,” he said.
Developed in conjunction with Enterprise GIS-solution, the brand-new interactive digital platform uses a combination of technology tools, such as mobile and web-mapping applications.
Meyer highlighted that the dashboard’s purpose is to monitor rural safety incidents reported within the agricultural environment.
Currently, 40 cases have been logged on the rural safety dashboard.
“The dashboard will assist in identifying rural crime hotspots as well as inform data-led rural safety interventions to improve safety within rural and agricultural communities across the province,” Meyer said.
“A spatial representation of incidences of crime enables us to develop appropriate strategies in response to the safety needs of our farming communities.”
A spatial representation of incidences of crime enables us to develop appropriate strategies in response to the safety needs of our farming communities.”
Information gathered via the rural safety help desk and the dashboard is shared with the South African Police Service and the Department of Community Safety’s court watching brief unit.
“The court watching brief unit assists with making follow-ups on rural safety-related cases. Furthermore, the unit’s representatives attend court sessions with the sole purpose of ensuring that rural crime-related cases are successfully prosecuted,” concludes Meyer.