Police get additional helicopters
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Wednesday January 28, 2015 11:05
Assistant Commissioner of police Christopher Mbulawa told Mmegi in an interview that they had already signed a contract for the purchase of three AS 350 B3e helicopters worth over P115 million with Airbus Helicopters, Southern Africa formerly known as Eurocopter.
Currently BPS has two helicopters, one in Gaborone and the other in Francistown. The third helicopter crashed in April 2014.
“The demand of airborne law enforcement has compelled us to increase the number of helicopters so as to combat crime effectively. Police officers will now be able to attend to their reports effectively. We will even reach inaccessible areas to conduct search and rescue operations successfully,” Mbulawa said.
Mbulawa said the helicopters would also be helpful in missions to find missing persons.
“Of late police have been troubled by cases of missing persons. Some of them were found while others were not. In some cases our efforts were thwarted by lack of resources.
As the police we are trying our best to deliver and to be trusted by people,” he said. He said they were expecting the first two helicopters during the month of August this year, and the third in April 2016. “We want to be hands on at all times as the police on issues that affect the public most.” Meanwhile police statistics indicate there were 16 murders, 62 rape cases, 42 armed robberies and 185 break in cases last year compared to 22 murders, 60 rape cases, 36 armed robberies and 766 break ins registered during the same period in 2013.