The President of the Republic of Botswana Lieutenant General Seretse Khama Ian Khama has commended the Botswana Police Service (BPS) for its significant reduction of targeted offences during 2009.

Officially opening the BPS’s 39th Annual Senior Officers Conference held at the Special Support Group Band Hall in Gaborone on Tuesday (15/06/2010), President Seretse Khama Ian Khama said he was happy that the BPS managed to reduce targeted offences by seven percent (7%), but urged them to continue to do more.

The President said he was also happy that crime prevention efforts by the police and cluster committees were bearing fruits and urged Senior Officers to maintain the momentum until they win the support of all communities. He said it was only when the community has shown abhorrence of crime through demonstratable action that any criminal effort would be frustrated.

He urged the Police management to consider collaborating with other supporting law enforcement agencies to substantially reduce crime in order to attract sufficient investments from the international community, saying every Motswana including visiting foreign nationals, should always feel safe and secure in their private homes and in the streets.

The President expressed concern at the increasing incidents of road fatalities and said collaborating with stakeholders to significantly reduce road traffic deaths and injuries was also necessary. He said the public relied on the police for safety and security and challenged them to be always ahead of criminals in their crime fighting strategies.

He urged them to mobilize and fully commit resources at their disposal to reduce crime, saying the introduction of new Branches such as Air Support, Crime Intelligence, Stock Theft and Internal Affairs was meant to enhance operational capability and efficiency to improve service delivery.

He further urged the police leadership to move quickly to deal with instances of corruption in the Service, saying the establishment of the Internal Affairs Branch was meant to eliminate complaints and corrupt practices involving police officers.