Police Presence Could Reduce Crime

Pini Bothoko | Monday September 25, 2017 16:26

 

Police stations are inundated with cases of theft particularly pick-pocketing, theft from cars in shopping malls, and theft and car breaking by traffic lights. In the case of the latter the thieves snatch people’s valuables like mobile phones, laptops, money and other important properties.

Usually, the most targeted victims are women. Of recent the police have been making numerous arrests of theft suspects and had gone the extra-mile to do something extraordinary by allowing journalists to take pictures of them and filming them for television broadcast. One may wonder if revealing of suspects’ identity is the new strategy that the police have decided to use towards the reduction of the growing crime levels in the city.

If this is the case, then the move is a positive one that still has a long way to go. While the development stands to bear fruit, it is worth mentioning that early this week saw suspects at Broadhurst magistrate court cry foul that journalists were taking their pictures for publishing online. The suspects were not pleased, but the same cannot be said for the general public.

The dejected suspects aired their displeasure about their identities being revealled  on media platforms such as social media and newspapers, which begs the question, could the move to disclose suspects’ identity help curb crime? Recently on Fight Crime Facebook page, suspects’ identity were revealed and followers showed appreciation of the development, congratulating the police. The comments suggested that the move has helped members of the public to be more alert.

People have in the past complained about police visibility on the ground, but since the police took a decision to work on their visibility with uniformed and non-uniformed officers, it seems their efforts finally seem to be paying off.

For the past months, the police have been on seriously leaving offenders no place to hide or run to.  The  case in point is the recent speedy arrests of the 27 men, who were allegedly behind smash and grab incidents in the streets, especially at traffic lights, where they broke into people’s cars, and stole their valuables.  Also, some suspects would allegedly follow their intended victims who had just made cash withdrawals from ATMs and snatch their wallets or handbags.  Their arrests might to some extent be a clear testimony that the police have upped their game.

Not only have the police arrested those suspects they have also, of late, managed to make arrests of six robbers, who were armed with guns and were suspected of peddling drugs into the country.

 The police, however, have identified that the majority of the suspects who are males aged between 19 and 25.

This age bracket allegedly commits most of these crimes that could give the police a starting point for investigating potential offenders. In the past, criminals used to keep officers on their toes with most cases ending up unsolved.

But that appears to be a thing of the past because these days it does not take a very long time for suspects to be arrested after committing an offence.

When driving or walking around the city it is also easy to notice police officers on every corner, especially at high crime spots either patrolling on foot, bicycles or by cars, another clear indication that the police have increased visibility on the ground.

The increased police presence has impacted positively on the reduction of the so-called street crimes like common theft, stolen cars, robbery and others that typically take place out of sight.

The police have over the years continued to introduce various crime fighting methods and programmes in response to crime activities countrywide.

Some of them include the introduction of community policing clusters, special constables, bicycle units, Ipelegeng volunteers, helicopter patrols, random road blocks in responding to road traffic policing and intelligence-led policing to mention but a few.

Reached for an interview on this matter, Botswana Police Service spokesperson, assistant commissioner, Witness Bosija said that they have intensified their visibility on the ground with uniformed and non-uniformed officers, which seems to be helping with not only the reduction of crime, but also the curbing of it.

Bosija stated that this move contributed a lot in strengthening other strategies like patrols, especially the stop-question-and-search strategy, which has since proved to contribute positively to crime prevention.  He said that through that strategy, they managed to retrieve illegal substances like drugs, knives and other harmful tools  and also recovered stolen property.

He said that their visibility on the ground has also contributed a lot to time response to calls as they had resolved to implement a robust hot spot policing strategy driven by targeted saturation patrols.

The police also shared that ever since the establishment of the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security back in 2011, a number of projects have been delivered.

They cited the intense engagement of special constables and Ipelegeng volunteers that have to a large extent increased police visibility in crime hot spots throughout the country.