04 Nov 2014

Botswana Police Service (BPS) has implored the nation to individually and collectively come up with strategies to protect their properties and themselves during the festive season. 

Police said this when giving a brief update on how BPS performed from January to September 2014 during the launch of the 60 Days of Action on Crime and Road Safety campaign.

Police deputy commissioner, Mr Bruno Paledi pleaded with the community to take appropriate measures by ensuring sufficient investment in their personal security, home security, office or business, vehicle security and personal valuables security. 

The 60 Days of Action on Crime and Road Safety campaign themed: In Partnership With You will run from November 1 to December 31. 

Mr Paledi urged communities to take personal responsibility for their lives and that of other road users by not drinking and driving, not speeding, obeying all road signs and markings at all times. 

He also urged them to wear seat belts, reflective clothing when walking at night, make proper use of the road as pedestrians and being mindful of other drivers by pulling off to allow them to pass when moving slowly.

Mr Paledi assured all Batswana and visiting nationalities that BPS would prudently deploy its available resources to ensure that the 2014 festive season becomes the safest and most memorable through educational campaigns on road safety and saturation and roving patrols. 

“On the overall, we are not going to show any mercy to criminals or drivers who break the law or violate road traffic regulations,” he added. 

During the period from January to September 2014, Mr Paledi said BPS had managed to score a 6.9 per cent overall reduction on serious and violent crimes. This, he said, was a satisfactory performance when compared with what BPS scored during the same period in 2013. 

He said robbery cases reduced from 1 385 to 1 246, burglary and theft cases from 2 442 to 2 163, store breaking and theft from 1 982 to 1 906 whilst house breaking and theft reduced from 2 320 to 2 175. 

He also added that rape cases reduced from 1 460 to 1 453, stock theft cases from 1 681 to 1 531, whilst threat to kill cases reduced from 527 to 380. 

However, Mr Paledi raised concern that murder and motor vehicle theft cases increased from 175 to 187 and 210 to 228, respectively. 

On road safety issues, he said BPS had managed to reduce the total number of road traffic accidents by 16 per cent from 14 191 to 11 920 cases, during the period of January to October 2014, when compared to the same period in 2013.

“The same comparison in respect of road fatalities yielded a 20 per cent reduction from 333 to 266 deaths,” he said. 

Despite these notable reductions, he said he perceives “the figures to be relatively high, considering our small population, hence the reason why we should aim to reduce the figures even further.” 

These achievements, he said, were made possible by the community and stakeholder support. For that reason, he said constant collaboration through community policing remained their key success strategy. 

By doing so, he said this would help reduce the high number of road traffic accidents and break-in cases that were normally recorded during the festive season. ENDS