Police, military presence keeps burglary, house-breaking at bay
Lebogang Mosikare | Thursday April 9, 2020 17:13
This is according to information provided by the station commanders of Kutlwano, Tatitown and Central police, Neo Serumola, Edward casino siteleri Leposo and Lebalang Maniki, respectively.
The data is from January to March this year compared to the same period last year.
Burglary, at Common Law, is defined as the güvenilir casino siteleri trespassory breaking and entering of the dwelling of another at night with intent to commit a felony therein.
On the other hand, house breaking and theft is defined as the act of using physical force to gain access to, and entering, a house with intent to commit felony inside during the day, according to the legal dictionary.
Some members of the public attribute the downward spiral of the two crimes to the visibility of the police and soldiers during the day and at canlı casino night in their various localities across the city since the State of Emergency (SoE) was enacted.
In addition, members of the public are of the view that the decrease in the crimes is due to the fact that most of them are always at their homes after Botswana like most countries in the world adopted the same stringent stay-at-home rules, to fight contain coronavirus.
In an interview with MmegiOnline, Leposo said that no case of burglary and house breaking and theft has been recorded in his policing area since the President youwin Mokgweetsi Masisi promulgated the SoE last month.
Leposo said: “The visibility of the police and soldiers along the streets in my policing area may have played a very crucial role in deterring burglars and house breakers from committing their nefarious acts.”
However, Leposo was constrained to substantiate his assertion because he was outside the city attending to other matters related to coronavirus in his policing area.
In the same breath, Serumola said that cases of burglary and house breaking and theft have gone down this year as compared to the same period last year in his policing area.
He said: “We recorded one case of house breaking and theft since the start of the year and no case of burglary. We had about 23 cases of burglary last year from January to March while we have only recorded three cases during the same period this year. We also recorded 18 and 16 cases of house breaking and theft from January to March 2019 and 2020 respectively.”
Asked what he thought may have contributed to the decrease in the crime rate, Serumola responded: “The visibility of law enforcement officers (police and soldiers) along our streets during the day and at night contributed to the decrease in the crimes in question.”
The visibility of law enforcement officers on its own, Serumola added, is a deterrent since criminals usually discontinue their plans if they realise that the police are within their vicinity.
Maniki also shared the sentiments of his colleagues.
“Generally, incidents of common crimes like assault and others are low in my policing area since the beginning of the year up to now as compared to a similar period last year,” he said.
Maniki conceded that the issue of the SoE contributed significantly to reduced burglary and house breaking and theft offences.
“The issue of the visibility of law enforcement officers has played a vital role in reduction of burglary and house breaking offences since the SoE was implemented. According to my analysis, as of March, the visibility of soldiers and police has increased in my policing area. People are living at their residence the whole day, which is also deterring thieves from carrying out their criminal activities,” Maniki said.
Maniki added that because people are no longer moving freely from one point to another since the SoE was put into effect like in the past, it is difficult for criminals to find a ready market for stolen property.
“We have not recorded any cases of burglary and house breaking and theft this year in my policing area. But even without the benefit of statistics, I can assure you that we recorded very few cases of burglary and house breaking and theft in the comparable period last year,” Maniki explained.