As part of the ongoing anti-crime campaign, Rwanda National Police reached out to commercial motorcyclists operating in different places of Rubavu and Burera districts and urged them to work closely with security organs in a bid to ensure public safety.
Police met with close to 600 commercial motorcyclists on February 11 in two separate meetings.
In Rubavu, the District Police Commander (DPC) Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Callixte Kalisa met with over 500 commercial motorcyclists operating in Rubavu town and enlightened them about the need to cooperate with security organs.
“The relations between the Police and commercial motorcyclists are very good but we need to maintain it and even take it to another level in the field of jointly preventing crimes in our communities,” said the DPC.
He went on to detail the role of motorcyclists in crime prevention saying that; “some drug traffickers use commercial motorcyclists to transport the narcotics from one place to another, this is why you should always be conscious about your clients and whenever you suspect someone alert the police immediately.”
SSP Kalisa told the motorist that the faster to share information with security organs, the better they contribute to public safety through crime prevention.
“There are other crimes like domestic violence or gender based violence that we also need to completely stamp out of our communities – we can achieve this if we collaborated and shared information in the quickest time possible to ensure offenders are brought to justice and prosecuted or even preventing those conflicts from becoming violent,” said Kalisa.
Police is also involved in reconciling and reuniting conflicting families, and SSP Kalisa said that by identifying such affected families, it can facilitate authorities to mend differences that exist in such families.
He further urged them to also abide by traffic rules and regulations as means of avoiding reckless road accidents.
The head of commercial motorcyclists union in Rubavu, Gafora Sentibagwe, promised cooperation with the police in crime prevention.
In Burera, the District Community Liaison Officer, Assistant Inspector of Police (AIP) Phelin Nshimiyumukiza encouraged the motorcyclists to play a significant role in crime prevention and cautioned them against bad maneuvers and speeding which sometimes lead to accidents.
He reminded those holding expired licence to rush and renew them to avoid penalties.
He urged them to form anti-crime clubs.
Godfrey Byaruhanga the head of Cooperative des Taxi Moto de Burera (COTAMUBU) said that the continued Police outreach programmes helps them to be good citizens and also contribute to making Rwanda crime-free .
“Police should hold these meeting more frequent as they remind us our responsibilities to the general public,” said Byaruhanga.
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