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The City of Cape Town is offering cash rewards for those willing to snitch on their criminal neighbours.

“Snitch” is just a turn of phrase here. There is, in fact, nothing wrong with wanting to keep your neighbourhood safe and crime-free.

The Mother City is keen to encourage this sort of behaviour and they’re willing to fork out the dosh for any information that might lead to an arrest or the recovery of stolen goods or contraband.

You’ll really just be blowing the whistle on crime and getting paid to do so.

The Informant Reward System initiative was first launched in October 2013, with the amount offered then being R1 000.

Now the figure has gone up a few notches – alongside the rise in petrol, electricity, and food prices – and sits at a solid R5 000.

According to Safety MMC JP Smith via CapeTalk, the City has already made a number of arrests and recoveries based on tips that came via the Informant Reward System:

“We created this specifically in relation to drug and firearm tipoffs… If it helps us get a gun off the street, we’re happy…

“There are people who regularly give tipoffs where the reward incentivises good behaviour, we’re happy to pay for it.”

Here’s the full conversation with CapeTalk’s Lester Kiewit:

Smith also mentioned that some regular informants are going all-in:

“We issue a few hundred rewards per year… We get a steady stream of firearm tipoffs and regular dumping informants. One lady quickly realised there was an income stream to be garnered… She started taking photographs… useful for us.”

The Informant Reward System has a dedicated phone line for those wanting to offer tips for a reward.

Note that informants don’t have to testify to claim their rewards, and may also remain anonymous if they fear retribution and don’t mind forfeiting the reward.

If you want to offer a tip-off and claim a reward, call 0800 11 00 77.

[source:capetalk]