Surveillance cameras to be placed in cities

Sharon Mathala | Tuesday November 11, 2014 16:29

“ The city will be policed through a network of surveillance cameras installed at strategic locations.

The surveillance cameras will be monitored at a centralised office known as the command and control centre,” the police said in a recent statement which followed a contract advert.

This method is expected to relieve many officers from foot patrols.

However, it won’t result in job losses because officers would be deployed to carry out other policing duties.

Police also stated that due to shortages of funds, the programme would start in phases, starting off with urban areas like Gaborone and Mogoditshane, followed by Francistown and Lobatse. They cited that they had identified these areas as crime hot spots.

However, last week acting police commissioner Victor Paledi revealed that police had recorded a reduction in serious and violent crimes this year.

“In the period January to September last year, robbery cases reduced from 1,385 cases to 1,246 this year.

Burglary and theft cases reduced from 2,442 last year to 2,163 this year.”

“We managed to reduce the total number of traffic accidents by 16 %, from 14,191 to 11,920 this year as compared to last year.

Fatalities this year yielded a 20% reduction from 333 to 226 deaths,” said Paledi.

He however noted that despite these notable reductions, the figures were relatively high, considering Botswana’s small population.