Statistics produced by the Botswana Police Service show that burglary, house breaking and theft are peaking ahead of other crimes towards the festive season.
Deputy spokesperson of the Botswana Police services, Senior Superintendent Dipheko Motube, said burglary and house breaking are common especially in Francistown and Gaborone. He said in Gaborone the cases are synonymous with the townships of Broadhurst, Mogoditshane and areas of Gaborone West.
He decried the attitude people possess towards others, which leads to the spread of these criminal activities. He said people can stay next to each other for a very long time without knowing each other. Motube said this makes other neighbours to be completely in the dark when criminals approach their home.
He added that as the police they are moving towards fighting too much individualism among residents.
“People are not united but criminals are networking unlike us,” he said.
He said they encourage people to be involved in neighbourhood watch schemes, form clusters and hire guards when they leave for the festive season. He said another option is to leave someone behind.
“In most cases criminals find it too risky to create opportunities for themselves but rely on the ones already created by the people,” he said.
Meanwhile, there were 70 cases of store breaking and theft recorded for 2010/11, increasing to 89 in 2011/12 during the festive season.
Rape cases were 65 in 2010/11 and increased to 75 in 2011/12. For armed robbery 59 were recorded in 2010/11 and a sudden increase to 72 recorded in 2011/12. However ordinary robbery decreased from 30 to 25 between the said two periods. The cases of threats to kill were 31 in 2010/11 and traditionally increased to 49 in 2011/12.
Road fatalities were 30 in 2010/11 but saw an increase of seven cases to 37 in 2011/12. Suicide cases in 2010/11 were five but increased to 11 in 2011/12. And lastly eight cases of murder in 2010/11 to a case increase in 2011/12 leading to nine.
