08 Oct 2018

Private security companies in Palapye have been to vet security guards prior to recruitment.

Palapye Police Station Commander Superintendent Waboraro Ramaja told a meeting between police and private security companies held in Palapye recently that employing someone and vetting them later did not serve any purpose.

He advised the security companies to avoid recruiting people with pending criminal cases adding that some watchmen connived with criminals to break into shops and homes.

Superintedent Ramaja urged them to encourage their customers to engage security guards in addition to alarms which he said were not foolproof as some criminals knew how to disarm or bypass them.

The Palapye police chief encouraged private security management to intensify monitoring especially at night to check if guards were doing the job as expected.

He said police were concerned about cases of burglary particularly in areas where security guards had been engaged.

Superintendent Ramaja pleaded with private securities to work hand in hand with the police to fight crime in and around Palapye.

He noted that criminal activities started escalating in the months of October, November and December citing robbery and burglary.

Superintendent Ramaja expressed concern about stock theft incidents and urged his listeners to report any suspicious cases to the police.

He said some butcheries in Palapye were part of a stock theft  syndicate urging them to join hands  with the police to fight the crime.

Superintendent Ramaja also encouraged private security companies to improve eployees’ conditions of service which he said would deter them from engaging in criminal activities.

He said some security companies delayed in paying their employees which made them vulnerable to temptation.

The meeting ended with the formation of a private security committee wich saw Mr Tshepo Mompati of Big Five Security elected chairperson.

Mr Mompati said the committee would go a long way in addressing security issues and protecting the lives of Batswana.

The committee, he said, was also a forum where the police and private security companies parties could meet and deliberate on issues of crime.

He said the two parties had been working in silos for a long time adding that the committee would help close the gap which criminals had been taking advantage of.

 Mr Mompati vowed to ensure that the two parties worked closely together to fight crime in Palapye. ENDs