Emergency call takers inundated with calls for help

11 August 2026

The City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre ( PECC) recorded 3 384 calls for assistance over the long weekend – including nearly 150 motor vehicle accidents. On the enforcement front, City services arrested 373 suspects and issued 64 201 fines for various transgressions during weekly patrols.

‘The call rates, while of concern, do not come as a surprise. It bears the hallmarks of many other long weekends, where we see an increase in interpersonal incidents – many linked to alcohol abuse. And, of course we had some rain this weekend and unfortunately there is a direct correlation between weather and road safety incidents. Too many drivers simply do not appreciate the need to change their driving behaviour to match the environmental or road conditions.

‘The City has an exceptional emergency call centre and we will continue to invest into the resourcing and modernisation of the service to ensure we able to assist our residents, I do want to reiterate a previous call that residents familiarise themselves with the Safety and Security addition to the City App that allows the logging of requests directly to our services.

This add-on allows residents to log by-law offences that lessens the burden on our emergency call centre ensuring they can focus on life and death matters,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.

In general, enforcement efforts over the past week, Metro Police officers made 103 arrests and issued 5 845 notices.

Officers recovered seven stolen and/or hijacked vehicles, a firearm and various quantities of drugs.

Their Law Enforcement counterparts made 221 arrests and issued 10 978 notices.

Traffic Officers recorded 49 arrests - 43 for driving under the influence of alcohol, two for reckless/negligent driving and four for other offences. Officers also issued 47 381 fines, executed 1 948 warrants of arrest and impounded 188 public transport vehicles.

During the long weekend the City hosted several events such as the Stormers vs the All Blacks game at the DHL Stadium and the Totalsports Women’s race where officers did point duty with no major incidents reported.

The public is reminded to report emergencies or any suspicious and/or criminal activities by calling the Public Emergency Communication Centre on 021 480 7700 OR logging by-law and traffic related complaints using the Safety and Security add on to the City App.