08 Aug 2016

The Botswana Police Service (BPS) held its 132^th celebrations on July 6 in Lobatse, which were graced by amongst other dignitaries, President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama, Vice President, Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi as well as cabinet members and government officials.

Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the celebrations, Assistant Commissioner Witness Bosija said celebrations carried a lot of significance for the BPS and its mandate as a safety organ, especially at a time when the country is celebrating its 50^th anniversary.

“As Botswana celebrates its 50th anniversary, as Botswana Police Service we can proudly say we have contributed to the peace and tranquillity that prevails in Botswana. We have played and we continue to play a significant role in ensuring that Batswana and their properties are safe,” he noted.

He said they continued to prioritise the security of the country and its people so that there could be law and order in Botswana. 

He noted that since crime threatened the peace and tranquillity of any country, the BPS has over the years ensured that Batswana were safe and their property protected at all times.

Further, the assistant commissioner said the BPS had managed to contribute to Botswana’s dream of becoming a united and proud nation by employing a community policing approach to fighting crime. He said programmes such as neighbourhood watch, crime prevention committees and cluster policing were some of the initiatives that the BPS were using to work together with citizens in the fight against crime. 

He also said due to different interests, they also had a sector based approach where certain groups of people with similar interests were put together to fight crime specific to their sectors. 

“For instance we have crime prevention committees tailored specifically for business people because obviously their interests might be different from others. We also have those targeting farmers so that they could help us fight crime related to farming,” he said.

The police spokesperson acknowledged that the BPS was still faced with challenges such as drug abuse which were a concern amongst school going children. 

He said the most common were dagga and hard drugs such as cocaine. He however said they were working with communities to see how best to address such challenge.

Furthermore, he noted that road accidents continued to claim lives everyday even though they had noted a decrease in the number of accidents. That, he said was due to the fact that a single car accident could claim lives of many people at a go.

He attributed such fatalities to drivers’ attitude which disregard road rules such as speeding and drunken driving. He also said vehicles which were not roadworthy also contributed to such accidents. 

He, however, noted that they had intensified police visibility on the roads to ensure that motorists obeyed road signs as stipulated by the Road Traffic Act. Ends