A reflection on crime fight as BPS commemorates 139 years
Pini Bothoko | Friday August 4, 2023 14:13
The service has made great strides in delivering its mandate even though some areas remain a challenge.
As a cause for concern, the police have over the years been struggling to curb gender based violence (GBV) cases as murder, rape and defilement continue to spiral out of control with women and girls who are usually victims continuing to live in fear of criminals. Botswana has long been facing GBV crisis and the social ill does not seem to be ending as men continue to violate women and girls thus keeping the police busy. Rape Police have been sensetising both men and women about rape issues, but their efforts continue to fall on deaf ears as women and girls live in deepest fear of rapists who continue to violate them as they please.
This is demonstrated by rape statistics. During the past festive season police recorded 155 cases that occurred mostly at entertainment places something that has resulted in Botswana being ranked top amongst countries with the highest number of rape cases. Women and girls continue to suffer violation at the hands of their male counterparts as they are attacked and raped even in the comfort of their homes.
Police continue to record cases in which women and girls are roused from sleep in an attack and then raped by intruders who are arrested and sometimes flee the crime scene unidentified. Police have since revealed that investigating such cases is giving them headache as some perpetrators claim to have obtained consent from the victims and even accuse the victims of extortion.
However, this forced the government through the Ministry of Defence and Security to amend the penal code to include criminalising false rape allegations. Other changes included enhancing penalties for sexual offences and to make provision for compensation of victims of sexual offences. Defilement The service is battling escalating cases of sexual abuse of underage girls despite numerous efforts to educate members of the public on this matter. A total of 2,033 cases of defilement were recorded in 2021 as compared to 1,825 cases in 2020, incidents something that has forced some girls to drop out of school.
Police recorded 155 rape cases during the festive season in which young girls were sexually violated. Defilement of children under the age of 18 remains the main concern, hence the establishment of a gender and child protection unit.
These cases spiked during the lockdown period as women and children did not have anywhere to escape from their abusers, with some family members demonstrating behaviours that their close family members were not aware of. Murder Escalating killings between intimate partners dubbed passion killings and murder cases that start as petty fight over beer drinking gives police a headache.
Police are struggling to keep up with this scourge as people no longer value the sanctity of life choosing to kill whenever it suits them. Twenty-seven murder cases were recorded during the festive season with the bulk of these cases occurring as a result of misunderstandings between victims and the perpetrators, which were mostly influenced by alcohol abuse.
The nation continues to experience an uptick in murder cases alongside a rising tide in gender-related violent crimes. As of June 2023, the BPS reported a total of 143 murder cases citing “misunderstanding between parties” as the main cause of murder. “We are concerned about the increasing number of murder incidents that continue to occur across the country,” stated the police in a press release. In 2022, cases involving threat-to-kill and attempted murder were pegged at 783 accounting only for cases launched against males.
Petty Crime/ Home Invasion Batswana continue to live in the constant fear of criminals even in the comfort of their homes and cars particularly in the Greater Gaborone. Criminals continue to attack people by the gates, break into people’s dwellings at night, break their cars by the humps and attack the owners in their sleep and then take their valuables using force keeping police on their toes. Worried by this scourge earlier this year, the Minister of Defence and Security, Kagiso Mmusi instructed the police to do whatever it takes to eliminate petty crime.
Mmusi said then that Batswana were no longer safe in their country as they live in constant fear of criminals even in the comfort of their homes and cars, something that needs the police’s immediate attention
Measures were put in place to reduce these incidents including the formation of operational teams focusing on patrols, especially during peculiar hours and deployment of special constables. However, police are still overwhelmed with these cases as people continue to live in constant fear of criminals. Armed robbery, cash-in-transit heist and ATM bombings Just a year ago, armed robbery particularly cash-in-transit robberies kept the police on their toes with weekly occurrences as robbers staged heists, overpowering security company guards and making off with large sums of money. For years, the country had experienced an upsurge in cases of robberies where in most cases fire arms were used and thereby posing a danger to the lives of both members of the public and law enforcement officers.
However, following concerted efforts by all law enforcement agencies led by the police these cases are manageable. Cross-border crime Cross-border crime incidents such as human trafficking, environmental crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, stock theft and related crimes remains a concern and police have been battling this scourge for years.
Cattle rustling along the borderline have been tormenting farmers for years and these crimes has a negative impact on economies as funds that could have been used for developments are often diverted to fighting these crimes. This forced the government to develop a digitalisation project for the Botswana/ Zimbabwe cross border which uses technology to curb crime.