Out & About with the Lesotho Mounted Police Service - Sarah Poolman

I was not expecting to be able to get out with the Lesotho Mounted Police Service, so when Kellebone told me that I would be spending the day with them in Maseru, i was both intrigued and excited.

I started the day at the Police Headquarters in the centre of Maseru, where I met Insp Thosa, a female officer specialising in child abuse and domestic violence, and a trooper who worked on the Diamonds and Drugs Squad. I was interested in knowing about crime generally in Lesotho and the priorities for the LMPS, so we spent some time talking about the key issues that they are facing. They provided some recent crime statistics for me, some of which prove to be very interesting reading. Between July and September 2009, there have been 55 armed robberies, 28 murders, 435 burglaries in Maseru Urban area alone - the city is made up of 300,000 population. This gives an indication of the challenge that this small country is facing in terms of crime and, as i was about to find out, the challenge is even greater considering the resources and technology that the LMPS has available to it.

In addition to the above challenges, there are also significant problems around child abuse, neglect and abandonment, human trafficking and theft of livestock which then often leads to vigilantism and contributes to the number of murders.

Before leaving HQ, i was able to talk to detectives in 'Alien Control' (Immigration) and Fraud. The detectives in the fraud dept were tearing their hair out over ATM fraud, which was a big issue in the UK a number of years ago and i was able to advise them on how we had worked with the banks on reducing this type of crime and how our forensic teams had assisted us with detecting some of these crimes. This was before I was advised that their forensic dept consisted of one small office down the corridor!

Having shared some of the our common experiences, i went to Maseru Central Police Station, a dilapidated building, constructed by the British and still with the trademark blue light outside the front door. There i witnessed the provision for victims of child abuse and domestic violence and was thankful for the huge progress made in the UK in this area over the last decade. There was no furniture, no equipment and i was left wondering how conducive this environment was to the type of incidents and abuse they were dealing with on a daily basis.

I then left the city to experience policing out in the rural areas and headed out to the HQ for the Maseru Rural district. There i met the Senior Superintendent Seturumane and we discussed his priorities and his strategies for tackling them. He referred to the LMPS Strategic Plan 2009-12. Having been involved in the Strategic Plan for Thames Valley Police 2008-11, i was keen to have a look at theirs. Amongst the normal themes of reduction of crime, detection of offences and apprehension of offenders, a key priority for the LMPS was to reduce the prevalence of HIV. I naively asked how the police could assist in reducing HIV throughout Lesotho, only to be told that it was within the LMPS that this issue had to be tackled. They now have education and counselling sessions for police officers in an effort to raise awareness of this disease, break down some of the myths and curtail its spread. The fact that this is a key priority for the LMPS demonstrates the extent of the problem around HIV and AIDS in this part of the world.

The Senior Superintendent was honest with me about the problems facing Lesotho, so much so that i thought the list would never end. He was very proud to tell me about a pilot that had been set up called Community Policing, consisting of community consultation, providing greater accessibility and visibility which is similar to neighbourhood policing in the UK. However, due to lack of resources and infrastructure, they have not been able to implement this across the country and when i asked how long it would take to implement, thinking maybe 2-3 years, i was told, maybe 10-15 years, reminding me that i was in Africa! We often laugh about 'Africa Time', but when it comes to core services to the community, it no longer seems so amusing.

Finally, i was able to visit one of the orphanages with Insp Nepo where abandoned children or orphans are taken. The Lesotho Child Counselling Trust with sponsorship from a number of companies was a good example of what can be achieved to assist these children, but it could only house 18 children and it was full. Insp Nepo told me that the majority of the orphanages are now full and that by December, there would be a severe shortage of places for these children. We discussed the provisions in the UK and the use of foster parents, but unfortunately, there just isn't the money to support such a system here in Lesotho.

Despite all of the problems, the police officers seemed to be committed to what they were doing and always had smiles on their faces, indicative of the resilience of this small country. It was yet again an eye opener, and my thanks go out to those people who made it possible and who were so honest with me. I wish the LMPS all the luck in achieving its strategic plan!