Spotlight: SA police adopt evidence-based policing in annual performance plan

National and international research is being used with ISS support to develop and promote high-performance policing in South Africa.

Published on 26 November 2025 in Impact

After the success of trials guided by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), evidence-based policing (EBP) has been adopted by the South African Police Service (SAPS) in its annual performance plan.

EBP improves planning and decision making by drawing on evidence and data to inform strategies and evaluate their outcomes. It shifts policing from tradition and opinion to activity informed by evidence of what works.

The EBP approach now enjoys leadership support at national, provincial and city levels in South Africa, and police and safety institutions are increasingly collaborating with researchers.

The first test of EBP in the country was in 2023 in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, with data used to direct patrols to a violent-crime hotspot. It showed a 31% reduction in contact crime and demonstrated that EBP could reduce violent crime by making more targeted use of existing resources. The success of the intervention prompted its expansion to Delft, Khayelitsha, Nyanga, and Gugulethu in Cape Town, the first multi-site hotspots policing experiment in Africa.

An evidence-based patrol strategy was introduced in eight crime hotspots, preventing an estimated 100 contact crimes in four months, creating safer neighbourhoods, enhancing public trust and improving police relations with local communities. There was a notable year-on-year reduction in multiple crime categories, including murder and attempted murder. Ambulance calls for violence-related trauma also decreased significantly.

The strategy expanded to 11 police stations in 2025, and the Western Cape aims to deploy it in 30 priority police stations by March 2026. The City of Cape Town recently trained 800 new metro police cadets in the approach.

The EBP approach now enjoys leadership support at national, provincial and city levels in South Africa

The rollout to additional stations is now a formal performance indicator under the SAPS 2025/26 Annual Operational Plan and features in the work plan of the cooperation agreement between the police, Western Cape and Cape Town.

The Hotspots Policing Project was a collaboration between SAPS, the Western Cape provincial government and the City of Cape Town, with the ISS and Hanns Seidel Foundation providing support.

‘Evidence from the Western Cape trials, and research internationally, shows the impact of a focused strategic police presence in time and place,’ says Anine Kriegler, a Senior Researcher in the ISS Justice and Violence Prevention programme.

The evidence-based patrol strategy uses crime statistics to plan and deploy short, frequent and unpredictable patrols across areas where crime happens most. Patrols last 15–25 minutes, which has been proven to prevent crime more efficiently and cause minimal disruption to other duties.

Each hotspot has a patrol schedule based on its crime pattern analysis, and police visit more frequently when crimes are most likely to occur. Patrol times, entry points and routes are not fixed, making it harder for criminals to predict when police will arrive. Police have clear guidelines to maximise visibility, avoid being predictable and to prioritise positive community interactions.

In the Western Cape trials, tracking systems were used to enhance the accuracy of patrol implementation and facilitate real-time adjustments. This strengthened command and control as well as station-level management.

For more information, contact:

Vanya Gastrow, ISS: [email protected]