10 Sep 2014

University of Botswana deputy vice chancellor, finance and administration, Mr Dawid Katzke says security is a responsibility of every employee and those contracted to do business with an organisation to protect the company assets.

Speaking at the Campus Protection Society of Southern Africa (CAMPROSA) annual conference held in Gaborone September 8, Mr Katzke said everybody, be either employees or contractors should comply with the security policy, strategies and any access management systems of a company in order to safeguard its operational systems and business strategies.

“Security like training and development are often left on the back burner, ignored and forgotten until a crisis occurs. The need for security and most importantly its training cannot be over-emphasised,” he said.

He said the conference therefore, serves as one of the ways through which security operatives institutions of higher learning and other organisations are work shopped on the latest challenges faced by such institutions.

He further noted that with the changing environment, change ion crime trends and sophistication of perpetrators, technological advancement has been incorporated into the mainstream security.

As such, Mr Katzke said independence of man, technological and mechanical security is of paramount importance.

“Computers, CCTV, access control, telecommunication and research are some of the improvements or common gadgets in the security industry,” he said.

He encouraged security personnel to carry out research, planning assessment and analysis to establish the type of property or area to be protected.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Operations, Lesego Phonchi said security services should be strengthened because the police alone cannot work in isolation.

He said partnerships with security agencies have made the work for police easier adding that students’ involvement in planning of their security has helped in keeping learning institutions safe.

The workshop that was held under the theme “protecting educational institutions and ensuring a safe and secure learning environment” is held annually and aims to intensify modern security techniques and solutions to curb criminal activities on university campuses.

The conference discussed and generated solutions to curb the escalating problem of break-ins which are generally a concern in most of the member campuses. ENDS