ADVOCATE Borotho Matsoso has spent the first three weeks as police commissioner in back-to-back meetings. Some of those meetings are bringing him up to speed on operational issues while others are crisis meetings to deal with either new problems or an escalation of the old stubborn ones.
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Yet they all amount to one result of showing him the monumental task after Prime Minister Sam Matekane thrust him into the hot seat.
A lawyer by training, he is inured to carefully measure his words.
It is therefore unsurprising that he doesn’t mention the word “crisis” in the interview with thepost this week.
Instead, he prefers to describe the huge problems facing the police as “challenges”, “issues” and “concerns”.
But no matter how scrupulous he is with his words, there is no denying he understands that he is walking into an epic storm.
His ‘in-tray’ is brimming with problems his predecessors have left unresolved despite years of grappling.
Most of the problems were there in 2003 when he left the police to join the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences.
Those stubborn problems have aggravated in recent months and could be the reason Matekane pulled him from retirement.
Murders and other violent crimes are being committed with near impunity. Famo gangs wreak havoc in communities across the country.
The police appear to lack the skills, resources and will to investigate the escalating murders, creating an impression of a force that is not only inept but also overwhelmed.
Allegations of rampant ill-discipline abound, with some officers accused of being either gang members, flogging police guns to gangs or corrupt.
The use of torture and excessive force on suspects has resulted in mounting lawsuits that have left the police on the hook for millions.
Confrontation with the Lesotho Police Staff Association (Leposa), the closest thing cops have to a labour union, has led to tensions between the management and low-ranking officers who feel their voices are being muzzled and rights trampled upon.
After years of disappointment, the people appear to have lost confidence in the police’s ability to keep them safe.
Instead, there is a perception that the police are either unhelpful or part of the problem. The people accuse the police of failing to prevent or solve crimes.
That list of problems is not a creation of your correspondent but just the few that Advocate Matsoso rattled out when asked what major issues the police face.
“Stock theft is rampant and drug trafficking is affecting our youth,” he says as he adds to the list of things the police have to prioritise in the next few months.
He wants to build a police force that is “engaged” with the community but says the foundation of that relationship is mutual trust.
“People are policed by consent borne out of mutual trust with the police,” he says.
“We cannot deny that what has happened in the past has eroded the people’s trust in the police. We want to regain the people’s confidence.”
Although it’s been two decades since his last stint in the police, Advocate Matsoso believes the basics of policing haven’t changed much.
“You fight crime by constantly engaging the community because they know better what crimes they face and who the likely perpetrators are.”
“Crime prevention starts at the village level because it is where the victims and the perpetrators are. The strategy is to get the people involved in the battle against crime.”
He wants to use that strategy on stock theft which he says has spiked in recent months despite police and military patrols in hotspots.
He is banking on communities helping the police by centralizing the stock keeping, monitoring routes used to move stolen stock and providing intelligence.”
“We also need to increase our presence in the communities.”
Advocate Matsoso briefly pauses when asked what he thinks will be the strategy to deal with the raging famo gang wars that have terrorised villagers across the country and left hundreds dead.
When he eventually speaks, he is not as eloquent about the solution as Deputy Commissioner of Police Dr Mahlape Morai who had been the acting police commissioner before his appointment.
His hesitation is because he is not sure about the true nature of the problem.
He says he knows that some of the killings “could be” a result of battles for gold mining turf in South Africa and revenge.
“It could be about resources and maintaining supremacy within and among the gangs.”
The reason he doesn’t want to sound too certain is that he believes “there are too many things that we don’t understand about the gangs and what drives their killings in both Lesotho and South Africa”.
“We could just be firefighting without dealing with the real cause of the fire. We need to engage experts for a thorough research because it’s complex.”
What he is sure about is that the “police have to stop torturing suspects because it’s counterproductive and expensive”.
“Beating suspects has never worked because the evidence gathered by force will be inadmissible in court. The police end up being sued and we also lose the people’s trust”.
“Some police officers use torture out of frustration because they cannot get the answers they need to solve cases. They know that a crime has been committed and want to solve it.”
The solution, he believes, is to train the police in interrogation methods and human rights.
Advocate Matsoso is open to the idea of officers who have been successfully sued for torture and abuse being forced to pick up part of the bill to deter others from using crude interrogation methods.
He however wants to use that stick as a last resort for repeat offenders who persistently ignore warnings and reject efforts to reorient them.
He fears the threat of being surcharged might shackle the police and render them ineffective.
“We might have to use that method on those who are negligent because I believe some of the officers are just out to do good for the community.”
So how does the police get the work done without resources?
Advocate Matsoso acknowledges the lack of cars and other resources but doesn’t want it to be an excuse for not getting the work done.
The police, he says, should make do with the little they have while the government finds the resources they require. His point is that the police should accept that there will never be a time when they get all the resources they require.
“I have been assured that the government is trying its best given the state of the economy. As the police, we should wisely use the little resources we have to deliver on our mandate.”
And what of the tensions between the police management and Leposa?
“Ah, those are our guys. There is no need for any fights because they are the police and we are one,” Advocate Matsoso says after a chuckle.
He says he was one of the officers who wrote Leposa’s constitution when it was formed during his first stint in the police.
“There shouldn’t be any tension because ultimately we all want the best for the police and the people.”
Advocate Matsoso is reluctant to make any grand promises about what he expects to achieve during his three-year tenure.
He prefers to stick to modest targets.
“We will work hard to deal with crime so that our people are safe. We want to regain the people’s trust so that they help us fight crime.”
“There will be challenges and mistakes but we want to assure the nation that we are committed to protecting the people and we will always collaborate with communities to fight crime.”
“What I am saying is that we need the people’s help.”
Staff Reporter
