Shortage of police officers poses crime threat- DDC report
Pini Bothoko | Monday September 15, 2025 13:00
According to the committee’s latest report, the shortage of manpower at Tlokweng Police Station has already placed a strain on response times, exposing the district to the risk of crime escalation.
“The shortage of personnel constrains service delivery and may result in delayed responses to distress calls, which in turn could embolden criminals,” reads the report.
The DDC also noted that while the district continues to record progress in reducing serious offences, complacency among members of the public in safeguarding their property, coupled with an influx of people from neighbouring Gaborone, has created vulnerabilities that opportunistic criminals exploit.
To mitigate these challenges, the committee highlighted plans to intensify community policing initiatives. Public education campaigns, it said, will be stepped up to promote awareness and build stronger collaboration between the police and the community.
Despite the challenges, Tlokweng has registered some progress in curbing certain categories of crime. Penal code offences declined by 14%, dropping from 1,174 cases in the previous quarter to 1,027 cases, a development attributed to proactive crime prevention measures.
However, traffic offences surged by 23%, rising from 1,431 to 1,768 cases, while other offences also went up by 23%, climbing from 224 to 277 cases during the same period.
Once known as a crime hotspot where residents and businesses endured frequent violent incidents such as murder, rape, armed robbery, housebreaking, and burglary, Tlokweng has in recent years seen significant improvements in its crime situation.
In the past, residents lived in constant fear as criminals broke into their homes, even watching and targeting businesses with violent robberies. Shops and offices were often broken into at night, and when they were about to close for business, sometimes even held at gunpoint.
The situation only began to stabilise after the deployment of the Special Support Group (SSG) under the City Policing initiative that was introduced in December 2023 as a quick response unit to curb the rise in crime in Greater Gaborone. Through this unit and stronger collaboration with residents, particularly through neighbourhood watch programmes, the police were able to suppress violent crime in the Tlokweng district, especially in Tlokweng and Modipane villages.
Today, violent incidents are far less frequent, with weeks and even months passing without major cases being reported. However, the DDC cautions that these gains are fragile and could be undermined by persistent manpower shortages.
“The district has made commendable progress in reducing violent crime, but the shortage of personnel poses a serious risk to sustaining these gains,” the report warned.
For now, Tlokweng remains relatively safer than it was a few years ago, but the DDC insists that without adequate policing resources, the district could slip back into being a criminal haven.
Meanwhile, the report further revealed that noise and nuisance caused by playing musical instruments loudly by some liquor outlets on weekends and public holidays are some of the challenges facing the district. As a mitigating factor, the report stated that law enforcement operations will be conducted to curb illegal trading of liquor in homesteads, as it has since been established that shebeens fuel crime.
Most violent crimes, such as murder, rape, and attempted murder, take place at these informal drinking places, and police have in the past asserted often been called to attend to violent crimes that usually occur at or near these areas.