A Blueprint for the ZRP

Hello all, well with Mugabe being away and it being deathly quiet in terms of news, coupled with personal tragedy in my family - there hasn't been too much to write about recently.

It would seem though, that something is happening, Mugabe has come back earlier than I understood he was meant to and Mbeki's sudden demise have added all kinds of new speculation to the situation. Clearly though, the balance of power has shifted with changes in South Africa - suddenly Mugabe will feel a lot more exposed, no wonder he feels that the Democratic process (which still works in South Africa) IS "devastating" - it is really only devastating to ZANU-pf''s military junta and spells the final death knoll for un democratic leadership in Zimbabwe.

I have, for some time been considering a blueprint for the police force to be resurrected in Zimbabwe. It will be a gargantuan task and fraught with many dangers. Police officers loyal to their calling will be on the front line and face a great deal of danger - from their own erstwhile colleagues - particularly those who have climbed through the force causing mayhem and destroying the structure of the force in the process to support Mugabe. In the process discipline and processes have been cast aside. This has allowed corruption to flourish and indeed it has become the norm now.

I spoke to friend in Zimbabwe last night who said that the police force no longer functions, except to provide traffic control for Mugabe's motorcade, and collect bribes at roadblocks. In fact police action now depends on who pays the biggest bribe to the highest ranking man, it has absolutely nothing to do with controlling incidents and carrying out a thorough investigative procedure. So how do you fix such a massive machine when it so broken?

BLUEPRINT

Well a huge number of things have to be done almost immediately.

The hierarchy in the force comprising the Commissioner, the Deputy Commissioners and many Senior Assistant Commissioners needs to be suspended.

Suitable replacements need to be found, either in the few remaining serving senior officers or in many of the those who have been forced to resign. I know a few of the senior officers both serving and ex members who would be very capable of taking this task on and removing the political bias in the direction and leadership of the force.

CID Homicide and CID law and Order sections need to have virtually every man suspended and arrested (They were instrumental in much of the torture inflicted by the police).

The police constabulary A branch, B branch and C branch need to be disbanded immediately.

A huge number of transfers need to take place to move officers out of their comfort zones and mix them with colleagues they cannot be sure of across the country.

The police supply chain needs to be examined and refinanced. Police men and women all look like a complete shower. Their uniforms are falling apart, dress orders are no longer enforced and their general appearance engenders absolutely no respect from the public. Those that do have new uniforms (generally those that stand behind Mugabe at conferences etc) have uniforms that are several sizes too big! It is absolutely laughable.

Police transport is badly distributed, generally used by officers in charge as their personal "company cars" and most of them are, in themselves, moving violations!

Station inspections will have to be carried out and great attention paid to what has happened to the various reports in the RRB's, IR's and OB's. These docket will have to be examined to see whether any form of actual reality has been applied to them. Investigation will have to be carried out into CR's and "missing documentation" - The system used to be very good indeed and missing paperwork falls within a chain of responsibility - so where it has gone "missing" officers need to be charged.

Training needs to be examined, as does the rank structure. When I was in depot, all officers did six months initial boot camp style training before being deployed to stations where they were put in the company of experienced officers and learnt the trade from personal experience. And yes, they had to do the "undesirable" duties to begin with - roadblocks, farm patrols, guard duties and so on - that is a rite of passage. For some bizarre reason, Chihuri and co decided we would be better off following the British style of 18 months training which would include periods at a station working. Not sure I get this though - are not the British the enemy?? Anyway, I have not been impressed with the British police - by and large they are not corrupt, but they have no public faith and this is largely engendered by their behaviour and attitude - and their hands are bound by ever expanding and more complex "human rights" laws, mountains of paperwork, statistical targets and a departure from basic principles of policing - for instance, I have often heard people complain that the police in Zimbabwe took so long to attend to various reports - but did you know that in the UK if you report a break in or criminal damage case, in most cases the police will simply provide a report number for insurance purposes? They "do not, as a matter of policy, attend every 'minor' incident". - So how then, do they gather evidence? They cannot accurately plot a crime map and, in the event an arrest is made (by mistake usually!), how do they tie the accused to the crimes in a given area? They cannot - so the accused appears in court charged with one offence, gets a warning and is back on the street in ten minutes... hmmmm!

Anyway, serious thought should be given to retaining some of the older core policing that the ZRP inherited - it was effective and it worked well.

Having disbanded the Police Constabulary, it would be a good idea to reform it - this may sound to be a bit of a contradiction, however, remember that one of the big entrance requirement was ZANU-pf membership, we need to be rid of that. Also, given the lack of selection applied to policon members, most are unsuitable for service. There is no reliable record keeping for them and they can virtually assume whatever rank they wish - in fact many have been promoted, at least to Assistant Inspector by doing "favours" for various officers..

A lot of attention will have to be paid to providing a flying squad / scorpions type response to urgent reports and emergencies - that would be central to rebuilding public confidence in the force also.

Having said all that - with a proper selection procedure, suitability tests and training, they could become an effective tool in the police armoury once again and help to boost numbers without draining the budget. They can also be a good balance and check to ensure that the police are not a "closed corporation" with a hidden agenda as they have become.

Perhaps the entire rank structure of the force needs to be re-examined with the re- introduction of the "patrol officer" rank and a two tiered entry system based on educational achievement? It worked very well before, why was it changed? I often think about that old saying - "if it ain't broke - don't fix it"!

By continually "fixing" and adjusting something that was working, we now have something that is completely broken - from the basic function of the force to its entire infrastructure, men, women, stations, vehicles, horses, buildings, accommodation etc - it is interesting to not the beautiful new stables built on the way to Chivero... yet many officers have no accommodation!! And for the most part, horses are only ceremonial in this day and age, although they do have a role to play in actual policing also!

And I haven't even got started on the Support Unit!

There is SO MUCH to fix, so little time before this caretaker government will have to hold elections and if this stuff is not sorted out - the next elections are hardly likely to be policed effectively by an unbiased police force - therefore the elections would not be free and fair. AGAIN. And the ramifications are too terrible to contemplate!