04 Aug 2024

President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi was among those who  graced the annual Botswana Police Day celebrations in Gaborone on Saturday. 

The 34th celebration was held under the theme: Towards Safer and Secure Communities by 2036 and had remained relevant as a platform that showcases Botswana police’s success stories. 

The event  has also proved to be as popular as ever as it saw close to full capacity of the 25 000 seater national stadium.

An array of activities were lined up such as the K9 display, which demonstrated working relations between man and dog, horse displays, calisthenics, air display as well as the motorcycle display, which proved to be one of the people’s favourites. 

Deputy commissioner, Mr Dipheko Motube in an interview post the celebrations, said the activities also marked 140 years of existence of Botswana Police Service.

He said some of the notable successes was the BPS’s embrace of digitalisation, which would soon see the BPS offering some of its services online.

“Everybody has moved on to the digital world and so have we. Come September, some of our services such as the firearms permits, motor vehicle clearance permits and others will be accessible online,” he said.

Mr Motube said by embracing digitalisation, their annual celebrations were able to be viewed by other Batswana across the country, who could not physically come to Gaborone.

He said other notable projects such as Safer City, which would be extended to Greater Gaborone, were also realised as a result of digitalisation.

“The day also gives us a platform to reflect on our successes in terms of human and capital resources, such as transport, communications and skills we have acquired,” he said, comparing yesteryears where horses were the major mode of transport to the current era where they had aircrafts.

Mr Motube said in its close to a century and a half of existence, the Botswana police took pride in the fact that they provided Batswana with basic services such as immigration, meteorological, civil aviation and others before the establishment of relevant departments. Ends