02 Mar 2016

In an effort to engage the public in crime prevention and encourage zero tolerance of crime in Boteti, Letlhakane Police Station held a crime prevention debate competition among eight schools in the Boteti region. 

The event held on Friday at Letlhakane Senior Secondary School Multipurpose Hall comprised English and Setswana debate sessions among students and the youth from Motsumi JSS, Ditsweletse JSS, Mopipi JSS, Orapa JSS, Makgadikgadi JSS, Letlhakane Senior Secondary, Boteti Brigades Centre as well as the newly opened ByteSize College of Computers and Business Studies.   

During this public awareness competition, each institution was required to bring 10 participants and to speak for or against four motions that were set and themed around crime prevention as well as community involvement in policing and combating crime. 

According to the Crime Prevention coordinator for Letlhakane Police Detective Sub Inspector Happy Itumeleng Mothibedi, who coordinates crime prevention in Letlhakane and the No 8 policing district which covers Letlhakane, Mmea, Khwee, Mokobilo, Mosu and Mmatshumu areas, the event was sponsored by the Botswana Police Crime Prevention Unit and was meant to get the local communities involved in actively fighting crime and preventing it before it happens. 

He said that the main objective of this event was to engage parents in fighting crime so that they are proactive as opposed to being reactive when dealing with crime, he continued to say that empowering the parents is crucial as they have a great responsibility to be committed to grooming children at home to be responsible adults during their young and formative years.

“Charity begins at home, as such we believe that parents and the community have a major role to play, we have so many cases of domestic violence in Boteti which breeds criminality among children and because children grow up as products of their families and society parental responsibility is paramount”. He said.  He said that the role of the police is not just to arrest suspects and criminals when they commit crime “, we have a big role in promoting crime prevention mechanism and tactics, to teach about criminal behavior and how to avoid crime before it happens and this we can only do if we engage with the community.” He explained.  

Various community and village leadership, among others the representatives from the office of the Member of Parliament for Boteti East, community liaison officer for Karowe Boteti Mine, District Commissioner, Dikgosi, Gender Based Violence Committees and Crime Prevention Groups across Boteti as well as community members graced the occasion.    

“This is an initiative geared towards mobilising not only schools and the youth but all other relevant stakeholders to an all-round information dissemination event on crime prevention and community policing in preventing crime,” he revealed. 

He also said that it is not just the duty of the Botswana police service to combat crime single-handedly, emphasising that the involvement of local communities was crucial even as crime prevention comes at great risk to their life.

He called on parents to take responsibility for their children’s behavior at an early age, one of the motions debated at the event was on whether parents should be held liable for their children’s criminals acts to encourage parental vigilance and participation in combating increasing crime in Boteti.  

Besides the Setswana and English debate sessions which were held simultaneously, the event also comprised various poems on crime prevention by local youth participants.

Letlhakane Senior Secondary emerged victorious in the English debate category whereas Motsumi CJSS won the Setswana debate category and according to the Station Commander for Letlhakane Police Station Superintendent Michael Maphephu the crime prevention public education competitions will be an annual event. Ends