South African Police Providers (SAPS) in Camps Bay, Cape City has issued a public service announcement for beachgoers to take care of kids on the seashore.
With the summer season holidays upon us, Cape City will expertise an inflow of locals and vacationers on the seashores. Captain Keith Chandler, Camps Bay Police Station Commander, instructed News24 that about greater than 30 kids went lacking final 12 months. ‘Our largest downside is misplaced kids. Final 12 months we had 33 misplaced kids. It is because dad and mom have been beneath the affect.’
Working in direction of kids’s security alongside SAPS is the Metropolis of Cape City’s Social Improvement and Early Childhood Improvement Division (SD&ECD), which runs the Identikidz Programme.
This season’s Identikidz Programme launches on 15 December to create a safer surroundings at 16 seashores within the province throughout the peak vacation season.
Identikidz Programme
In high-traffic areas, SD&ECD workers members will help on the seashores to register kids and challenge identification wristbands.
The programme will happen at Large Bay, Camps Bay, Gordon’s Bay, Concord Park, Fish Hoek, Lagoon Seashore, Melkbosstrand, Milnerton, Mnandi, Monwabisi, Muizenberg, Sea Level and surrounds, Silwerstroom, Strandfontein and Strand from 9am to six.30pm.
- 15 – 18 December
- 24 – 26 December
- 31 December
- 1 January
- 7 – 8 January
- 14 – 15 January
- 21 – 22 January
- The undertaking may also run at Maiden’s Cove on 26 December 2022 and 1 and a couple of January 2023.
‘Identikidz has confirmed to be considered one of our most profitable festive season security interventions, nevertheless it requires teamwork. The Metropolis supplies the service and works intently with different related companies in situations the place kids have to be reunited with their caregivers, however we’d like our beachgoers to work with us,’ mentioned the Metropolis’s Mayoral Committee Member for Neighborhood Providers and Well being, Councillor Patricia Van der Ross.
‘Once you arrive at one of many collaborating seashores, discover the registration level and get your kids tagged. However, it’s additionally vital to notice that signing up for Identikidz doesn’t absolve you of your accountability to take care of minors in your care. The programme is an added layer of safety within the occasion that you’re separated out of your little one. We’ve seen how very busy Cape City’s seashores can recover from the festive season, but when all of us work collectively, we will safeguard our youngsters.’
Branded cubicles will probably be stationed at collaborating seashores, the place kids’s particulars will probably be recorded. The waterproof wristbands can have a singular quantity on them, which is recorded subsequent to the main points of the kids throughout registration.
Throughout the earlier vacation season (16 December 2021–10 January 2022) Identikidz workers assisted and tagged 98 232 kids and reunited 338 with their households.
‘We additionally remind the general public that security on the seashore consists of security within the water. Our 4 non-negotiable guidelines are to not drink and swim, to pay attention to rip currents, to swim solely within the demarcated areas the place lifeguards are current, and most significantly, don’t depart kids unsupervised,’ added Van der Ross.
Image: Pexels
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