Like other metropolitan areas in South Africa, the CMA is also preoccupied with combating the increase in crime and securing the safety of its inhabitants. There has however been a shift in the dominant type of crimes committed in the Western Cape Province, from violent crime to property-related crime. The Western Metropole includes the Metropolitan Local Council Areas of South Peninsula, and the City of Cape Town. The scales of these figures vary in response to the numbers of crimes committed in each category. Figure 2 shows an increase in the incidence of violent crimes in the CMA during 1994 after which numbers declined.
Recent trends do however indicate a slight increase.
The incidence of drug related crimes dropped significantly from 1994 to 1996, but has since begun to increase. The Western Metropole display higher numbers of these crimes than the Eastern Metropole. The majority of property related crimes occur in the Eastern Metropole. These crimes are usually carried out by petty criminals, such as residential burglaries and other robberies. These are crimes that are considered by the SAPS to be related to the socio-economic conditions of offenders.