Let's Intensify Fight Against Crime

Monitor Editor | Monday May 20, 2019 09:20

The Botswana Police Service (BPS), with its limited resources has been trying to fight crime. But their efforts seem not to be bearing much fruit, as people are still terrorised by criminals, mostly petty thieves who now use violence on their victims.

  Nowadays, social media is awash with reports of people sharing their sad encounters with these dangerous petty thieves, who prey on both male  and females on the streets or at public transport shelters.

The criminals also break into people’s houses, both during the day and at night. It is not uncommon to come across pictures of people who got badly hurt while trying to protect their property from these evil individuals who don’t seem to have an ounce of conscience in them.

Of late, a new trend is starting to emerge, and sadly, this involves teenagers, some of whom are still in school or they are of school going age. These youngsters often travel in groups and break into people’s houses carrying dangerous weapons such as knives, axes and scissors, just to mention a few.

Just this past weekend, there were a number of reports on social media from victims of these callous youngsters who seem to envision the life of thievery as the in-thing or fashionable thing to do. A man posted his picture, blood-soaked  from injuries inflicted by a group of young boys who broke into his home in the wee hours of the morning, confirmed that the culprits were indeed young boys of school going age.

The gentleman, through his post shared that he was attacked by a group of 11 or so young boys, but some reports have of course indicated that some of these groups include young girls.  Quite disheartening to say! As a society, we need to nip this emerging problem before it spirals out of control. Our future leaders seem to be veering further and further from the right path. Whether these challenges come about as a result of influences from television and social media or other factors that maybe contribute to the decay in morality, there is need for us as a society to come together and strategies on how  we can curb crime, and return our country’s status to its rightful status as one of the most peaceful countries in the world.

Meanwhile, we call on government to consider increasing BPS budget to enable them to fight crime efficiently . So far, many people complain that whenever they call the police to report crime, there are often told that there are no cars. And that the police would come when transport is available. This is what criminals cherish, as they know they will have ample of time to steal and abuse their victims, before the police show up.

Let’s all stand up against crime.