21 Jul 2024

 The Adopt-A-Police Station initiative is a commitment by Botswana Police Service to strengthen the effectiveness and impact of public safety collaboration.

President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi said this at the launch of the initiative in Gaborone on Thursday.

He said the initiative was in accordance with Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to address national issues and challenges, adding that it also consolidated national aspirations within the context of the Vision 2036 pillar of governance, peace and security.

He described the gala dinner as ‘an impassioned appeal to business entities and other potential partners to volunteer their much needed resources to uplift the ambiance of our police infrastructure,’ noting the need to renovate community service centres and ablutions at most police stations throughout the country in order to make them more user friendly.

He said the contribution of the private sector and the civic community was critical to promoting the delivery of professional and world-class policing services. 

He urged the private sector to align themselves with the initiative, adding that government was committed to ensuring that citizens and residents received best police services in environments that were dignified and welcoming.

President Masisi said government, for its part, would continue to avail funds to build police infrastructure fit to serve contemporary society. He said  that sufficient resource allocation for the police was affected by a plethora of variables such as increasing and competing demands for services, competing development priorities and a struggling economy experiencing occasional shocks from natural disasters and Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks.

He, however, said despite the challenges government remained committed to improving the quality of life of Batswana. 

He said the reorganisation of government machinery to align the functions of ministries, departments and independent agencies as well as merging some state-owned enterprises to improve efficiencies and effective decision making and public service delivery was critical.

For her part, Commissioner of Police, Ms Dinah Marathe said they were committed to reviewing their strategies, programmes and initiatives in order to improve  services to customers.

Ms Marathe said Botswana Police Service remained appreciative of government in availing resources to effectively progress their mandate. She said they acknowledged that government support could never be adequate due to competing national priorities, hence the importance of enrolling the support of the private sector to complement government’s efforts.

She said the initiative was conceived to improve the ‘look and feel of our facilities,’ adding that it was in line with their community policing strategy and organisational mission, which promoted the participation of individuals and the business community in crime prevention.Ms Marathe added that the initiative was also an extension of their collaboration and was aimed at inviting interested entities to become partners in uplifting the outlook and ambience of police facilities, particularly in public areas such as community service centres and public ablutions.

She said they considered the business community an important partner in the project by virtue of their comparative advantage to volunteer the needed resources to complement government efforts in delivering user-friendly policing services.She noted that they had benefited from the business community in the past and received donations in the form of porta cabins, motor vehicles and training. 

Ms Marathe added that the donations had assisted them to bring policing services closer to the public and that they remained thankful for the support.

“Improved police facilities will contribute to strengthened police and community relations, appealing work environment, happy customers, improved confidence in the police, motivated employees, high performance, high police integrity, enhanced organisational image and repute,” said Ms Marathe, noting that they had received 64 pledges from various companies toward the project. ENDS