In a bid to advance the community policing initiative, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Emmanuel  Gasana, reached out to commercial motorcyclists (taxi-motos) operating in Huye and Gisagara districts, for stronger partnership in overcoming crimes if not checked.

Gasana made the remarks Friday during a sensitisation campaign in the Southern Province, which is part of Rwanda National Police (RNP) initiative to scale out the community policing initiatives, which calls for collective responsibility to work together with law enforcers.

During the meeting, he met with over 1500 motorcyclists and pledged RNP’s support to strengthen their cooperatives.

Gasana commended the motorcyclists for their important services to the community, and advised them to form an umbrella that will organize and strengthen their cooperatives in order to carry out their business with professionalism and views for strategic actions.

"Your business helps lots of Rwandans - and that is why you should always conduct yourselves professionally and be accountable for your actions. Abide by the traffic rules in order to avoid road accidents which are not only dangerous to your lives, but also dangerous to the lives of your passengers and other road users,” he said.

He noted that most road accidents in the country are caused by over speeding, using telephones while riding and overloading - which are all avoidable if motorcyclists looked out for each other.

The police chief reminded them to always cooperate with police through the provision of timely information on any suspicious individuals who exploit services of motorcyclists to conduct criminal activities, and also warned them to be wary against criminals who infiltrate the profession.

"You should be the eyes and ears of your societies and help prevent crime by providing timely reports to police whenever you suspect someone of being a criminal. If people start to join your profession when they do not have a proper background, let the authorities know, so that investigations can be conducted. Your responsible actions are very important in sustaining the peace and security of our country,” he noted.

The Mayor of Huye District, Eugene Kayiranga Muzuka, complemented the IGP’s message, by reminding the taxi-moto operators that they owe their communities the responsibility of being actively involved in community policing.

The Chairman of the Southern Province Commercial Motorcyclists Association, Jerome Nsabimana, commended RNP for the continued support to their cooperatives and also pledged total cooperation from members in actively participating in addressing crime in their communities.

The southern province federation of commercial cyclists which has 4,874 members in 11 cooperatives also pledged to streamline its activities and ensure that every member is involved in crime awareness campaigns and other community initiatives that seek to build lasting peace.