Africa-Press – Botswana. President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has underscored the need to modernise the police service and align policing solutions towards effective tackling of today’s complex security challenges, owing to the current trends where criminals are using technology to commit heinous deeds.
Officially opening the 50th Botswana Police Service senior officers annual conference in Gaborone February 20, President Masisi said in a societal context characterised by a critical mass of people that were sufficiently knowledgeable and had reasonable access to ICT as well as data processing gadgets, the profession and practices of policing were fraught with challenges of some individuals re-purposing the use of such technologies to serve devious goals of criminality.
“I have no doubt that your engagement will provide a strategic platform for formulating effective solutions to emerging public security and safety concerns faced by this country. I advise you to seriously interrogate, assess and review current and emerging crime threats with a view to offering effective solutions to sustaining peace, security, safety and stability at personal, inter-personal, communal and the wider society levels,” the President said.
He also urged the police leadership to be focused and creative in formulating appropriate strategies by considering new developments of human civilisation, such as the advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution, particularly Artificial Intelligence.
“This is more so that criminals themselves never hesitate to take advantage of their access to information and communication technologies to plan and commit complex crimes.
To respond to this, the answer lies in being innovative, creative, and proactive in mapping and anticipating security and safety threats as well as recognising places likely to become hotspots for the commission of crimes,” he said.
He added that such anticipation would enable the police to address criminal activities before they occurred.
However, President Masisi said the old-age principle and basic understanding of effective policing such as partnership between the police and communities, underpinned by public trust and confidence in the integrity and purposefulness of members of the police remained relevant.
“This requires the police to avoid portraying the police force as an embodiment of fear that threatened individuals, or prone to abusing the power and authority entrusting them with the responsibility to prevent crime and uphold public security and safety,” he said.
The President appreciated and commended the police for numerous accolades and positive feedback that they continued to receive from customers, and advised them to use it to further improve their professional service delivery.
He also urged the police commanders to promote a culture of learning and continuous professional development by ensuring that officers were continuously capacitated to enhance their analytic skills in defining problems and issues.
That, he said would help decision making based on rigorous and critical appreciation of facts and evidence relevant to a particular matter.
“Officers should be accorded an opportunity to compete for secondment or employment opportunities at international organisations such as INTERPOL, AFRIPOL, SARPCCO and the UN. Such exposure will strengthen the country’s bilateral and multilateral relations, thereby projecting Botswana Police Service and the country as credible entities internationally,” he said.
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