The Botswana Police Services and the government have lost public trust through their handling of the recent spate of heist and corruption among other things, a report by Afrobarometer shows.
The report concluded that “In Botswana, citizens’ perceptions of the police are moving in the wrong direction: Public distrust has climbed, and approval of the government’s crime-fighting efforts has dropped.”
The report further states: “Majorities of Batswana think the police at least sometimes use excessive force with criminal suspects and engage in illegal activities themselves, and only a minority say the police usually act professionally and respect citizens’ rights.”
“Poor citizens hold particularly negative views of the police” adding that “These findings point to serious challenges for a police force intent on partnering with local communities to fight crime.”
Immediate comment from the Botswana Police Services was not available.
The report by Afrobarometer also cited the 2016 World Internal Security & Police Index which ranked the Botswana Police Service as Africa’s best (47th worldwide) and the International Police Science Association which highlighted “Low levels of corruption and strong public confidence in the police at the local level.”
The report says the Police officials cited community policing in partnership with local organisations and traditional leaders among their crime-fighting strategies.
Sounding warning bells and being critical of the Police’s recent handling of the spate of cash heist that nearly brought the country’s banking sector to its knees, the report observes that “more recently, however, Botswana’s police has made headlines for its use of force, including last year’s fatal shooting of nine suspects in a cash-in-transit robbery and of two bystanders – along with three suspects – in response to another robbery.”
The report also noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the police was repeatedly accused of brutalising citizens in the name of enforcing lockdown restrictions. It also noted that members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament have raised concerns about police brutality and President Mokgweetsi Masisi issued a statement condemning police violence and promising accountabilityy.
“Critics charge that officers accused of abuse often go unpunished, and an effort to establish an Independent Police Complaints Commission have so far been fruitless,” states the report.
The report says while relatively few report having to pay bribes to the police, most say at least some officers are corrupt, and fewer than half say they trust the police. “Poor people are particularly likely to see the police as corrupt and untrustworthy. Majorities think the police at least sometimes use excessive force with criminal suspects and engage in illegal activities themselves, and only a minority say the police generally operate in a professional manner and respect all citizens’ rights,” the report says.
Overall, the report says, “About half of citizens report feeling unsafe during the previous year, and approval of the government’s crime-reduction efforts has plummeted in the past three years.”
The report reveals that about half of Batswana say they felt unsafe while walking in their neighbourhood (50%) and feared crime in their home (45%) at least once during the previous year. Urban residents and poor citizens are considerably more likely to be affected by such insecurity than their rural and better-off counterparts.
“About three in 10 citizens (29%) say they requested police assistance during the previous year. More (37%) encountered the police in other situations, such as at checkpoints, during identity checks or traffic stops, or during an investigation. Among citizens who asked for help from the police, a majority (61%) say it was easy to get the assistance they needed. But 9% say they had to pay a bribe,” the report says. Among those who encountered the police in other situations, the report says, the same proportion (9%) say they had to pay a bribe to avoid problems.
“More than one-third of citizens (36%) say that “most” or “all” police are corrupt – the
fourth-worst rating among 11 institutions and leaders the survey asked about. Fewer than half (46%) of Batswana say they trust the police “somewhat” or “a lot,” says the report.
The share of citizens who say they don’t trust the police “at all” has almost doubled since 2019. “Significant proportions of the population say the police “often” or “always” engage in improper practices, including using excessive force in dealing with criminal suspects (41%) and in managing protests (24%), participating in illegal activities (35%), and stopping drivers without good reason (24%),” the report says. Only 38% of respondents say the police “often” or “always” operate in a professional manner and respect all citizens’ rights. “Only four in 10 citizens (40%) approve of the government’s performance on reducing crime, a 29-percentage-point drop since 2019,” the report says. One factor that might affect people’s sense of security is the presence of security forces.
“Considering the relatively small proportion of citizens who say they paid bribes to the police, it may be surprising that close to four in five Batswana (79%) believe that at least “some” police officials are corrupt,” the report states. It shows that more than one-third (36%) of citizens say “most” or “all” police are corrupt – the fourth-worst rating among 11 institutions and leaders the survey asked about, though better than the officials in the Presidency (50%), members of Parliament (42%), and civil servants (41%).
The report says perceptions that most/all police are corrupt are far more common among respondents with high lived poverty (53%) than their better-off counterparts (31%-33%) (Figure 10). They are also more widespread in the cities (40%) than in rural areas (34%) and among 18- to 35-year-olds than among their elders (32%-34%), the report notes.
“Alongside mixed popular assessments of their integrity, Botswana’s police enjoy only mixed levels of public trust. Fewer than half (46%) of Batswana say they trust the police “somewhat” (16%) or “a lot” (30%), while a slim majority (52%) express “just a little” trust (22%) or none at all (31%)2,” the report says.
According to Afrobarometer, the share of respondents who say they don’t trust the police “at all,” which remained virtually unchanged between 2012 and 2019, almost doubled between 2019 and 2022.
‘Here again, the poorest citizens stand out, expressing by far the least trust in the police (32%, compared to 47%-56% for better-off respondents),” the report says adding that “Urban and semi-urban residents (both 43%) are less likely to trust the police than rural residents (52%).”
It says “Trust in the police is also notably low among citizens with post-secondary education (36%), while older respondents express above-average levels of trust (55% of those over age 55).”
Overall, says the report, fewer than four in 10 Batswana (38%) say the police “often” or “always” operate in a professional manner and respect all citizens’ rights; 34% assert that such behaviour is rare or unheard of.
