The main objective of the study is to determine whether there is a lacuna in service delivery. Communities experience unacceptably high levels of crime and this study will determine whether the Cape Town Metropolitan Police Department provides adequate levels of service to combat such crime and whether the selfsame Cape Town Metropolitan Police Department contributes to a safe and secure environment. The study focuses on performance management within the public sector as it relates to service delivery. Service delivery in this instance is discussed from the premise of the Batho Pele principles enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and their impact on the selected communities as exemplified through the implementation of Cape Town Metropolitan Police Department’s vision, mission, values and service delivery standards. Although performance management is a well documented sub-discipline, it is still a new field in the South African public sector environment.The research concludes that a sustained improvement in productivity can be achieved by sustained performance management.