The Deputy Commissioner of Botswana Police Service (BPS) responsible for Operations, Mr Solomon Mantswe hosted a delegation from Mozambique led by Director General of National Penitentiary Service, Brigadier General António Augusto Maurice in Gaborone yesterday (27/10/2022). The delegation visited the BPS to benchmark on the functions and operations of BPS Forensics laboratory.
Welcoming the delegates, Mr Mantswe said over the years BPS has been interacting with their Mozambican counterparts at various platforms. The Deputy Commissioner also said he is confident that the visit will accord both parties an opportunity to learn from each other during their interaction.
For her part, the Director, Forensic Science Services (FSS) Branch, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Dr. Baboloki Helen Tumediso, took the delegates through the various services offered by FSS. She said the Branch was established mainly to strengthen scientific support towards realising desired levels of public safety and security. The Director further pointed out that the Branch also provides advisory role on medical and scientific development and law enforcement which includes standardised collection and packaging of forensic evidence. Dr. Tumediso said the FSS officers also present forensic evidence in courts of law and provide forensic intelligence to support crime investigations.
She continued to say that the FSS personnel are required to observe a Code of Ethics that ensures impartiality and ethical conduct in delivering forensic science evidence. Dr. Tumediso said there is an oversight body for National DNA database and provision of forensic evidence.
The Director indicated that they do their work guided by various legal instruments and mainly Section 6 of the Police Act which pronounces the mandate of the BPS.
On his remarks, the leader of Mozambique delegation, Brigadier General António Augusto Maurice reiterated with appreciation the ties between the two countries, adding that currently there is a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) being worked on that is expected to further strengthen relations between the two organisations. He said that they have chosen BPS for their benchmarking exercise as it is known to be one of the best in policing in Southern Africa.
