Child friendly police centers benefit communities

Since the opening of the first Child Friendly Police Center in 2020 and subsequent ones in Shakawe and other areas, children in Shakawe and their caregivers openly talk about sexual abuse and other social ailments in their community. The opening of the child friendly police center in the area has strengthened the link between community and police to address abuse of children.

Keleemetse Andreas, a father of two girls first heard about Child Friendly Police center at a kgotla meeting called by Botswana Police and social workers. During the meeting, community members were encouraged to report any form of abuse to the newly launched child friendly centers. As fate would have it, a year later his daughter was raped by a schoolteacher while on an errand to buy commodities at a nearby store. “I sent my daughter to the store to buy a few things, later she came back home crying and refused to talk until my sister arrived. That is when the child told us what happened,” he said.

Andreas was furious. “I wanted to take law into my hands and almost went to the teacher’s house. But I remembered the child friendly center that the police talked about at a kgotla meeting,” he said. Andreas then called the police and they responded speedily. They assisted the child, wrote the report, and connected the family with social workers and the hospital. The case was heard before courts and the perpetrator is serving time in jail. Andreas applauded the child friendly policing team, adding that the community now openly talks about child abuse, and they alert the police when they suspect violation of children’s rights.

Since its inception, Shakawe child friendly police center has recorded 85 cases and most of the suspects were adult males and majority of reported cases are defilement and rape. Sub-Inspector Kewagamang Keitale said the child friendly center collaborates with community members to address gender-based violence and VAC (Violence Against Children). They also collaborate with NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to assist on public education and counselling. “The community is more receptive to our services. They now welcome us into their homes and alert us when they suspect abuse,” said Keitaile. 

For her part, Director of Child Protection and Gender Unit, Assistant Police Commissioner, Superintendent Goitseone Ngono said they now have eight child friendly police centers across the country, and they plan to extend it to other police stations across the country. All the centers are managed by non-uniformed trained officers, which makes it less intimidating for children. Ngono added that the country has invested P5 million in establishment of these centers. “UNICEF supported us to establish some of the centers. They also helped us standardize our services by developing standard operating procedures for all police stations across the country,” she said. Ngono added that they facilitated the country’s first ever virtual court session that involved children. “We received the equipment through UNICEF support, and we supported the court to conduct the first ever virtual court session that involved a minor,” she said. 

UNICEF Child protection specialist, Gomolemo Rasesigo applauded the government for increased investment in prevention and response to VAC. “Through our collaboration we have been standardized services for children across police stations. Furthermore, there has been significant improvement in the number of cases of children reporting cases of abuse at the Child friendly police centers and we are seeing improvement in cooperation with communities in the prevention and reporting of cases of abuse. She further highlighted that the trainings given to the police and social workers on handling cases of children with the support of UNICEF is starting to bear fruits as this is reflected by the improvement in the relationship between children and the service providers.

Plans are underway to strengthen the entire justice system beyond the police and UNICEF supported government to develop a roadmap for child friendly justice system.