The Station Commander at Francistown Central Police, Mokuedi Mphathi, has expressed concern over the booming shebeens in Francistown, saying that they contribute to the growing number of assaults and murders, especially in crime torn locations like Monarch, Donga, Area A and Coloured.
Although he could not give statistics at the time, Mphathi told the Telegraph in an interview on Monday that the Francistown Police still have a mammoth task of keeping an eye on shebeens as most of the murders and assault reports normally emanate from the shebeens.
“A lot of murder cases and assaults are normally reported from shebeens,” he said.
However, Mpathi pointed out that 2010 has been an impressive year because crime level dropped as compared to 2009. He pointed out that the police, together with some members of the public, worked jointly to make sure that crime is combated.
He added that one of the reasons why crime was low in the past year is because the police came up with strategies, such as campaigns and flyers, to sensitize the public on criminal activities.
“One of the strategies that have worked well to curb crime in Francistown and the northern region at large is the introduction of cluster policing,” he said.
He added that cluster policing has so far worked very well, especially with help from some members of the public who assisted the Police tirelessly. Mphathi went on to highlight that the Police are continuing to hold workshops in different areas of Francistown as a way of addressing crime.
Touching on illegal immigrants, he said that there is still a high number of illegal immigrants flooding into the country, but added that they alone should not be blamed for criminal activities, as Batswana citizens are also involved.
“What we can tell the public as Police Officers is that people should revisit their values, deviate from crime and when they have problems they should not act violently, but rather they should use dialogue to solve problems,” he said.
He gave an example of passion killings, adding that partners in love should understand if love is no longer there and should accept the situation and move on or engage into dialogue rather than violence.
