adminThe Herald, 13 February 1992
DURING weekend stop-and-search operations in Harare, a man was arrested after allegedly being found in possession of 1 928 Mandrax tablets valued at $38 560, and another was arrested for being found with more than $42 000 cash in his briefcase which he could not account for.
Police Deputy Officer Commanding Harare Central district, Superintendent Nicholas Magwaba, said in an interview yesterday, the stop-and-search exercise was launched by the Zimbabwe Republic Police soon after the Commonwealth Heads of State and Government Meeting to reduce the wave of crime in the city.
During one of the operations at the weekend, two policemen on patrol stopped and searched a South African national and a Zimbabwean who were both allegedly found with 998 brown Mandrax tablets and 930 white Mandrax tablets.
The tablets were said to have been put in a transparent plastic paper which was wrapped in a newspaper and placed in the outside pocket of a blue travelling bag.
According to police, the two accused, who were coming from Zambia en-route to South Africa, were apprehended at the intersection of Robert Mugabe Road and Rezende Street in the city centre.
The other man who was found with $42 560 was arrested at the Robert Mugabe Road and Leopold Takawira intersection, again in the city centre. Police said the man could not account for the money.
He is a Zimbabwean and lives in New Canaan, Highfield, in Harare.
Police investigations are under way.
Supt Magwaba said the stop-and-search operations being mounted by plain clothes and uniformed policemen, police traffic branch and support unit, had already paid dividends.
During the exercise, which is an on-going operation, Supt Magwaba said they had made a major breakthrough into criminal activity because they were also apprehending some wanted persons.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
The law gives the police power to stop and search. Despite some positive results, it remains a very controversial strategy.
What is “stop and search”? It is defined as “the power given to police to search an individual or vehicle if they have ‘reasonable grounds’ to suspect that the person is carrying: illegal drugs, a weapon, stolen property and/or something which could be used to commit a crime”. (bbc.com)
In some countries, stop and search has underlying political overtones. It is regarded as a human rights violation. It is also linked to gender and racial profiling by law enforcement agents, as the police would only stop and search a person because they are either a woman; or they are black, Asian and/or Latin American.
The effectiveness of stop and search is also debatable. With so many people on the move, the argument is: how does the police objectively pick their targets, without necessarily abusing their power?
How much of a deterrent is it to criminals? What legal recourse do innocent victims of stop and search have, when it violates their personal freedoms and dehumanises them?
Despite the challenges, police still have to use every available opportunity at their disposal to try and stop the rising levels of criminality. Thus it is a chicken and egg situation.
Online Reporter