Cape Town police are using this new app for driving and other fines – here’s how it works
The City of Cape Town says that its law enforcement officers have begun using an integrated app on handheld devices to help with the issuing of traffic and by-law contraventions.
“This new application will be used by all the city’s enforcement departments that are involved in the issuing of contravention notices and includes traffic services, the metro police and law enforcement departments,” the city said.
“What makes this application unique, is that notices and fines are being issued with a city device on a city mobile application.”
In addition to the obvious administrative advantages, the app allows officers to save time by not having to issue a written notice as the manual notice book is replaced by this device, said the city’s JP Smith.
Smith said that app on the hand-held device does not only have scanning capabilities, allowing vehicle license disc and driver’s license scanning but has built-in GPS technology that allows for the correct allocation of notices to magisterial areas.
The built-in camera will allow the officer to record digital evidence related to the contravention resulting in fewer disputes at court. Smith said that the technology will have appropriate decryption of information to protect public information, and will allow for other future digital integrations.
Smith said that the advantages of the mobile application include:
- User friendly guided contravention capturing process;
- An increase in the administrative capturing of data;
- Reducing the margin of human error;
- Reducing capturing time;
- Dropdown selections for ease of use;
- Access to additional information stored in the back-end system for future reference.
In addition to the above, Smith said that the application will also assist with the easy identification of fraudulent vehicle discs and driver’s licenses.
Call volumes to the control room for vehicle and offender/driver detail confirmation will also be reduced and valuable information stored electronically, he said,
Cape Town said it currently has more than a 100 devices in operation that have access to the application and it is envisaged that the city will roll out 1,356 further devices subject to budgetary provisions.
“The development and implementation of mobile applications in the safety environment will ultimately contribute towards a safer community as those who are in contravention of the Road Safety Act and relevant by-laws are brought to book.
“The application saves time and resources, which is to the advantage of residents and the city,” said Smith.
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