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In the build-up to a busy festive season, Cape Town police officers conquered Table Mountain and broke a world record.

The City of Cape Town made history on Friday as it deployed an impressive 1,000 students from the Public Safety Training College onto Table Mountain, shattering the Guinness World Record for the most people to hike a mountain simultaneously, according to Cape {town} Etc.

Iraq had previously set the record in 2023 with  815 people on a hike.

The ambitious Mother City initiative, known as #Project1000, saw participants joined by Mayco Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, as they prepared for the bustling festive season. Together, they triumphantly scaled Table Mountain before making their way down into the Newlands Forest, where they officially scored a world record.

“Our Public Safety Training College is breaking records at a rapid pace,” said Smith after the group had earned their place in the Guinness Book of Records.

“Already we are training more municipal peace officers than the rest of South Africa combined.”

He went on to say that although they already hold international accreditation, they are focusing on values most important in order to build a police service that is respected and trusted.

“Values of integrity, honour, compassion. All values our college holds dear and has built our training around.”

It’s a pretty inspiring PR move for a police force that can seem to waver in the public’s trust and opinion:

Commissioner Robbie Robberts unveiled CoCT’s festive season policing plan at the end of the ceremony, with Smith adding “Because there is no holding us back now. We’re moving mountains…”

While Friday’s record-breaking hike ushered in a notable increase in law enforcement presence along the Cape’s trails, unfortunately, security concerns resurfaced just hours later. On Saturday morning, a group of five hikers fell victim to a robbery while descending from Steenberg Plateau on the Silvermine hiking trail.

According to the non-profit organisation Friends of Table Mountain, the group was ambushed by four young assailants armed with a gun and broken bottles, just about 100 meters from the trail’s beginning, near Boyes Drive above Lakeside.

This alarming incident comes almost a week after two hikers were robbed by four men aged between 18 and 25 while making their way up Deer Park towards Tafelberg Road before 7AM last Sunday.

Better get to work blue boys and girls.

[source:capetownetc]