In :South Africa, the Municipal Police are the separate police forces maintained by some

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

for

law enforcement in South Africa Law enforcement in South Africa is primarily the responsibility of the South African Police Service (SAPS), South Africa's national police force. SAPS is responsible for investigating crime and security throughout the country. The "national polic ...

. Municipal police forces are responsible for traffic policing and enforcing local

bylaws A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), or as it is most commonly known in the United States bylaws, is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authorit ...

within the municipality, and work in co-operation with the

South African Police Service The South African Police Service (SAPS) is the national police force of the Republic of South Africa. Its 1,154 police stations in South Africa are divided according to the provincial borders, and a Provincial Commissioner is appointed in ea ...

to prevent crime and maintain public order. Municipal police forces exist in most of the Metropolitan municipalities in South Africa, including the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality,

City of Cape Town The City of Cape Town ( af, Stad Kaapstad; xh, IsiXeko saseKapa) is the metropolitan municipality which governs the city of Cape Town, South Africa and its suburbs and exurbs. As of the 2011 census, it had a population of 3,740,026. The remot ...

City of Johannesburg The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite services for the city. Z ...

City of Tshwane The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (also known as the City of Tshwane) () is the metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of northern Gauteng Province, South Africa. The Metropolitan area is centred on the city of Pr ...

City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality The City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of the East Rand region of Gauteng. The municipality itself is a large suburban region east of Johannesburg. The name ''Ekurhuleni'' m ...

eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality created in 2000, that includes the city of Durban, South Africa and surrounding towns. eThekwini is one of the 11 districts of KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The majo ...

Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality which governs Bloemfontein and surrounding towns in the Free State province of South Africa. Mangaung is a Sesotho name meaning "place of cheetahs", as it was not uncommon for th ...

and

Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality ( af, Nelson Mandelabaai Metropolitaanse Munisipaliteit; xh, uMasipala wase Nelson Mandela Bay or ''uMasipala waseBhayi'') is one of eight metropolitan municipalities (also called Category A municipalities) in So ...

History

Municipal policing in South Africa has a long history. The Durban Borough Police created in 1854, later to become the Durban City Police, and now the Durban Metro Police, to police the city of

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

: the force was headed by a Chief Constable and was modelled on British police forces.Municipal Policing in South Africa: Development and Challenges
Chapter 1 "Municipal police forces" were also established in some cities in the 1980s, during the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

era. According to the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state act ...

, these forces were not highly regarded, and had a reputation for "high levels of excessive and inappropriate use of violence, often arising out of drunken behaviour, ill-discipline and personal vendettas".

Legal basis

Section 206 of the

Constitution of South Africa The Constitution of South Africa is the supreme law of the Republic of South Africa. It provides the legal foundation for the existence of the republic, it sets out the rights and duties of its citizens, and defines the structure of the Gover ...

provides: The procedure for establishing a municipal police service is laid down in the South African Police Service Amendment Act of 1998. This Act allows municipalities to apply to the government of the relevant

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

for permission to establish a municipal police service. The provincial Minister of Safety and Security may approve the application, after consultation with the National Commissioner of the

, if: *The application submitted by the municipality complies with the requirements laid down in the Act. *The municipality has the resources at its disposal to provide for a MPS which complies with national policing standards on a 24-hour basis. *The establishment of a MPS will not negatively affect traffic policing. *Provision has been made for civilian supervision of the MPS. *The MPS will contribute to effective policing in that part of the province.

Jurisdiction and powers

The powers and responsibilities of South African municipal police are more restricted than those of the

. The three statutory functions of municipal police services are:Municipal Policing in South Africa: Development and Challenges
, Chapter 3 * Traffic policing *Enforcement of municipal

and regulations *Preventing crime Municipal police forces do not conduct criminal investigations. Any person arrested by the municipal police on suspicion of having committed a criminal offence must be handed over to a

station as soon as possible. The biggest and most visible role of municipal police forces is

traffic control Traffic management is a key branch within logistics. It concerns the planning control and purchasing of transport services needed to physically move vehicles (for example aircraft, road vehicles, rolling stock and watercraft) and freight. Traffi ...

. In

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

, the municipal police made headlines when they announced a hunt for a man who was using the social networking site Twitter to warn about police road blocks and speed traps, claiming that the man, known only as "PigSpotter", could be charged with obstructing justice.South African police hunt Twitter spy
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Gallery

File:Cape Town Metro officer and car.jpg, A Cape Town Metropolitan Police officer with a Metro Police vehicle. File:Harvest Parade 2014 67.jpg, Stellenbosch Municipality traffic police officer File:Harvest Parade 2014 28.jpg, Stellenbosch Municipality law enforcement officers

References

{{Greater Johannesburg, serve Law enforcement in South Africa Crime in South Africa

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

History

Legal basis

Jurisdiction and powers

See also

Gallery

References