The Botswana Police Service Public Relations Officer, Assistant Commissioner Christopher Mbulawa, has confirmed that police officers shall soon be starting doing their patrols using bicycles and horses.
“It is not a new trend; in the past, they have used bicycles donated by the business community but now we are only resuscitating the beat,” said Mbulawa.
He added that this time around they want to conform to the modern day and shall use bicycles and horses in patrols, to heighten visibility and responding to reports quickly. He explained that they are still in the process to acquire the bicycles while they already have the horses which also will be used.
“Basically, we are not introducing new things. Ghanzi has got horses and, to some extent, camels too could be a mode of transport,” said Mbulawa.
“Training at the Botswana Police College is already in place for two-week durations and the first group started training on December 2012,” said Mbulawa.
He pointed out that they are still looking into how the police officers will be dressed while riding on bicycles because their present uniforms cannot enable them to.
“The way they are dressed should show the dignity of the police,” said Mbulawa. “Don’t be surprised to see a Superintendent riding a bicycle once in a while to check on the patrols.”
Mbulawa revealed that Gaborone City Council has a program aimed at promoting youth in the use of bicycles on the road and they shall liaise with them once they kickstart their programme.
“Bicycles are quicker to cover vast areas, can go in passages and make it easy to dispatch.”
