City of Cape Town using drones to catch boozers

Despite alcohol being prohibited on all South African beaches, drunk beachgoers remain a major concern. During the festive season, Cape Town police officials confiscated over 6 000 bottles of alcohol on beaches.

Cape Town beaches ‘one of SA’s favourite locations’ says Smith

Many people are aware that alcohol is illegal on beaches and they use clever ways of trying to hide it, such as burying bottles of liquor under the sand. The City of Cape Town has now started using long-distance drones to catch offenders in their attempts to consume alcohol on beaches and disobey regulations.

‘Our beaches remain one of SA’s favourite locations for holiday activities and it is imperative we ensure these are joyful and memorable for all. To achieve this, we need to ensure national laws prohibiting alcohol from being brought onto, or into, any beach area are upheld,’ said Safety and Security MMC JP Smith, according to Times Live.

Drones to catch offenders as a new strategy

In a post by Smith on Facebook, he mentioned that the Cape Town Law Enforcement department is already ten times bigger than those of other municipalities in South Africa, but still it has its hands full especially over the festive season due to people not abiding by the rules. Therefore, the City of Cape Town decided to change their strategy and started using drones.

‘Instead of trying to catch up to offenders as they make it their mission to outsmart authorities in their attempt to consume alcohol on the beaches, we used a different strategy,’ said Smith.

Using the drones enables officials to zoom in from kilometres away and identify offenders. Operators of the drones monitor the safety of swimmers, as lifeguards remain on standby. These operators also monitor individuals attempting to smuggle alcohol onto beaches.

What is the public’s response to this strategy?

Surprisingly, according to JP Smith, his office has not seen, or been approached about any concerns regarding the drones invading people’s privacy even though a major news publication recently claimed that there was public outcry over the use of drones as an invasion of privacy in the enforcement space.

Smith stated that, on the contrary, ‘there is much more country-wide concern over the level of increasing lawlessness, and the manner in which our municipality has embraced technology to improve and bolster our enforcement and emergency response, has been praised significantly’.

Here are some of the comments from the public on Facebook:

‘Assuming your drone pilots are licensed, this is an excellent tool for law enforcement and public safety.’

‘Just keep going Sir! Those of us who have sense, we thank you!’

‘Impressed. One step at a time. I hate going to beaches this time of the year. Some people are wreckers, seeing someone’s lifeless body being pulled out the water is truly sad. Or a kid who is crying hysterically cause he can’t find his parents.’

‘Keep arresting those who bring alcohol onto the beach and set up roadblocks everywhere. Wonderful.’

‘Well done. There should be no tolerance when it comes to alcohol on beaches.’

How can authorities prevent alcohol consumption on beaches?

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