21 Feb 2017

The Commissioner of Botswana Police Service (BPS), Mr Keabetswe Makgophe has cautioned students against vandalism and destroying government property.

Speaking during media briefing, Mr Makgophe said, a peaceful strike was allowed while vandalism of property was not allowed.

He said culprits would be brought to book.

However, he denied that police were brutal in the execution of their duties.

Mr Makgophe said when students engage in a peaceful demonstration, there would be no force used against them.

He explained that police were not a threat to society, but were there to save lives and protect the community, as well as to ensure compliance to the provision of the law.

He stated that the recent strike by University of Botswana students had resulted in damages to property and decorations at a nearby roundabout.

He said the police intervened only when the students started getting violent, noting that the few that had been caught would have action taken against them.

Furthermore, Mr Makgophe raised a concern about the proliferation and abuse of illicit drugs by some members of the community especially the youth and school going children.

“BPS is closely working with the Ministry of Basic Education to address the increased consumption of drugs especially dagga, cocaine and methcatinone.

He said the main concentration would be on identifying the suppliers, adding that they were doing everything possible to educate the public on the dangers of drugs.

Mr Makgophe called on the public to join the fight against illicit drugs to help curb the act. He noted that there was need to intensify parallel financial investigations to determine whether proceeds of drug trafficking had been laundered.

He mentioned that last year they managed to intercept over 1 000 kilograms of dagga, adding that if they continue to work jointly with the communities they would win the battle against drug-lords.

He said they had intensified their surveillance efforts at the points of entry and they had managed to arrest suspects.

Mr Makgophe urged people with information to come forward to ensure that drug dealers were nabbed.

Regarding the just-ended 45th Botswana police senior officers’ annual conference, Mr Makgophe said they had resolved to continuously improve BPS response time to calls.

He said the conference held under the theme, Towards a Safer and Secure Communities 2017 and Beyond, resolved to roll out the rapid response pilot strategy for greater Gaborone area to other priority areas.

The police chief said the conference noted the prevalence of high incidence of crime in Mogoditshane and resolved to implement a robust hot spot policing strategy driven by targeted saturation patrols.

He noted the general customer dissatisfaction with the 999 emergency line, adding that the conference resolved to intensify public education on the use of emergency line and the responsibility of the callers. BOPA