Makgophe declares war on emerging crime trends
Pini Bothoko | Tuesday August 8, 2017 15:40
Makgophe said this on Saturday on Police Day at Special Support Group (SSG) camp where a reception was held to mark the 133th anniversary of the existence of police.
The Commissioner vowed that the police would continue to engage and collaborate closely with other law enforcement agencies at local, regional and international levels in tackling emerging crime trends.
He pointed that these crime trends include cross-border and transnational organised crimes such as poaching, drug trafficking, human trafficking and cyber crime. Makgophe went on to point out that the loss of life on the roads is also a worrying issue.
“We have in this regard intensified public education and enforcement efforts targeting bad driver attitude, drink and driving, speeding, with a view to making our roads much safer to use thus saving lives,” Makgophe said.
He stated that policing is an endeavour that has multiple challenges, hence the tackling of violent and serious crimes such as break-ins, robbery, murder, rape, threat-to-kill, stocktheft and theft of motor vehicles remain a priority in their efforts to ensure people are safe. He revealed that their efforts in this regard are paying dividends as demonstrated by the overall reduction in these crimes, including improved detection and arrests over the years.
Makgophe congratulated officers that were awarded medals, stating that the medals are a source of inspiration in their continued efforts to provide quality law enforcement in line with commitments they made to Batswana.
He thanked the medal recipients for maintaining the highest levels of discipline, professionalism, Botho and resilience in the performance of their daily duties.
“These attributes have modelled the BPS into one of the best performing organisations in the public service,” Makgophe said. One of the invited guests, the national commissioner of the Royal Swaziland Police, Issac Magagula applauded the BPS for having invited him, stating that he takes his visit as an exchange programme useful to both states.
He revealed that no entity is a stand-alone, as it depends or needs the support of another entity.
He said for the years, he has been invited to grace the Botswana Police Day, he has learnt skills and expertise to benefit their police force as well as that of SADC.
“The police day activities were quite entertaining, things to aspire for my country’s police force. Let the spirit of brotherhood continue to prevail for the two forces, the states and Africa at large,” Magagula said.