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Crime Reporter
Government should urgently address concerns regarding poor salaries and underfunding in the police force as these are hampering operations, Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri has said. He said Government should look at some provisions in the new Constitution that needed urgent attention and a thorough cleaning process needed to be embarked on if policing was not to be unnecessarily cumbersome, time consuming and expensive to the tax payers.
Comm-Gen Chihuri was speaking at the Zimbabwe Republic Police 2013 Senior Officers Conference in Harare last week.
“Honourable Ministers, the following areas need urgent attention from Government to help smoothen police operations; underfunding which has become perennial, erratic and unpredictable not only continues to choke police operations, but in some cases has eaten away the gains achieved over the years,” he said.
“Conditions of services, particularly salaries and accommodation, are at the centre of hardships faced by police officers. I am not at all trying to justify corruption and those who are corrupt will surely face stiff punishment, but some of the situations are just dire and provoke corrupt tendencies.”
Comm-Gen Chihuri said the senior officers’ conference was anchored on the force’s profound desire to selflessly provide professional and quality service to the people in line with their strategic vision which is: “To be the leading police service provider in the world by the year 2020”.
He said such platforms provided them with an enabling environment to unleash their commitment, passion, zeal and unity of purpose in serving the nation.
“Accordingly, this conference is aimed at making objective deliberations on the operational demands facing us,” said Comm-Gen Chihuri.
“In this vein, we continue to be inspired by the love of our country and progressive intent to objectively account for our successes and failures as we traverse our policing path.”
Comm-Gen Chihuri said as they come together for the conference, they stand resolutely firm and pledge their allegiance to the cause of the country.
He said they would remain indebted to the Government and the people of Zimbabwe for their unwavering support in their collective pursuit of exterminating the malady of crime.
Comm-Gen Chihuri said as part of the proceedings, they had invited external presenters who would broaden the scope of their discussions as they deliberated on operational, managerial and administrative challenges affecting the force.
He said the inclusion of the external presenters was aimed at strengthening the police’s contribution to the country’s national vision and Government’s economic development programmes.
Online Reporter