The City of Cape Town is working with STADIO Higher Education to develop a bachelor’s degree in municipal policing, with plans to open enrolment nationally via the metro’s Public Safety Training College. STADIO in interim will offer this content as part of its bachelor’s programme while the City’s college gains full degree accreditation.
Public Safety Training College of the City of Cape Town is already formally accredited by the Safety and Security Sector Education and Training Authority. The Road Traffic Management Corporation, Quality Council for Trade and Occupation and the South African Police Service as a training service provider for the Further Education and Training Certificate: Road Traffic Law Enforcement.
It also has category five registration from the Private Firearms Training Council, which is the highest level of registration.
The college first opened its doors in 2008 to facilitate training for the Metro Police Department. It expanded over time to provide training and development to both permanent staff and volunteers across all of the enforcement services of the city.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis stated that they can make the cities much safer with well-trained metro police working in strong partnerships with the SAPS. That is why they have invested to expand the Public Safety Training College, which can now handle thousands of students annually. They thanked more teaching staff and cutting-edge training facilities. This investment enabled them to add over 1300 new officers to Cape Town’s streets in this term alone.
Now they aim to take the municipal policing profession to new heights, with a full-fledged bachelor’s degree, which will soon open for national enrolment via the City’s college. This first-of its-kind partnership with STADIO is an important step towards this goal.
According to Mayor Lewis, by investing in training excellence, they are ensuring that the officers are immediately ready to take their rightful place at the forefront of the fight against crime. The time has come for the City police to go beyond crime prevention, to also take on criminal investigation powers to help SAPS get more prosecutions for gang, gun, and especially drug crime.
STADIO already offers a Bachelors in Policing Practises that will form the foundation for the crafting of the municipal qualification. Under the new memorandum of agreement, qualifying students will receive a STADIO qualification and the City will be recognised in the awarding of the degree.
Considering this, Member of the Mayoral Committee for Safety and Security – Alderman JP Smith stated that this agreement is part of the long-term vision for the City’s college. It will solidify the position of the institution as a leading training facility for the security sector at national level.
The degree programme will unlock new opportunities for the enforcement staff and will create a pipeline for career progression within the City. Furthermore, the programme and the qualification will be open to anyone who meets the criteria, so they have an opportunity to positively influence municipal policing across the country.