Five Officials representing the Botswana Police Service and Ministry of Transport and Communications recently visited the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) on a benchmarking exercise of the electronic Spot Fine (eSpot Fine).

The LMPS started implementing eSpot Fine in September 2019, under the sponsorship of Road Fund. eSpot Fine has been implemented as an improvement of the manual spot fine to the electronic based one that uses gadgets and computers for its administration.

The Five-man delegation from Botswana was led by Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Mr.  Katlholo Mosimanekgape. Speaking at the closing ceremony of their visit hosted by LMPS, The Senior Assistant Commissioner said him and his delegation have gained an insight into the operations of the eSpot Fine, adding that they hope to get buy in for implementation in Botswana.

He applauded the LMPS on this initiative, saying that is seems to be the ideal way to tackle spot fines, as the manual way has its own challenges, which hinder performance of the Traffic Police Officers in this area.

The Commissioner of Police Mr. Holomo Molibeli said ever since the introduction of the electronic Spot Fine, a number of Traffic Police Officers have shown enthusiasm on their work adding that even though they are not yet perfect, but their skills are definitely improving for the better.

He thanked the Road Fund for making the initiative possible, further expressing his happiness on the fact that other countries recognize their efforts hence the benchmarking by Botswana.

The Chief Executive Officer of Road Fund Mr. Nkekeletse Makara expressed his gratitude for the Fund to be associated with this important milestone within the LMPS, reiterating that Road Fund is a willing partner to ensure the eSpot Fine is fully operational and yielding intended results.

He challenged COMPOL to ensure that LMPS is not bypassed by the Botswana Police Service, explaining that Botswana should come back to learn more, rather than LMPS learning from Botswana yet they implemented the initiative first.

The Botswana delegation spent five days in the country learning all aspects of the eSpot fine including participating in road blocks where gadgets were used to capture traffic offences. They will advocate for its buy in in Botswana and ultimate implementation.