Chronicle EditorNqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
POLICE in Bulawayo have reintroduced the home officer scheme in residential areas to scale up efforts to eradicate crime by increasing their visibility in communities.
The scheme collapsed 26 years ago.
A home officer is a police detail assigned to a specific community within the city.
The home officer would be residents` first port of call whenever there is a crime in their locality.
Bulawayo among other parts of the country have been recording an increase in robbery and burglary cases.
Police Commissioner General Godwin Matanga has directed provincial commanders to deploy special units to armed robbery hotspots within their areas.
President Mnangagwa on Monday directed police to flush out criminals following a surge in drug peddling, armed robberies and other crimes.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said the home officer initiative is part of the Zimbabwe Republic Police programme to strengthen community policing.
“This is part of our initiatives to bring police services closer to communities. We have crime combating committees, Business Against Crime Forum and Bulawayo went further to have Churches Against Crime Forum. Those are groupings of people who join the police in fighting crime. We have since resuscitated the home officer scheme which has not been active since 1995,” he said.
Insp Ncube said the home officer would be someone living within a community and easily accessed by residents.
“They will organise communities into neighbourhood watch committees and when the community is patrolling in their areas they will be in the company of that home officer. The officer would be expected to provide policing knowledge on what they can and cannot do. The officer will make it easy for police to get reports on crimes occuring in the society as home officers will be living in and are part of communities,” said Insp Ncube.
He said the scheme has also been necessitated by Covid-19 as members of the public might be constrained to travel due to restrictions.
Insp Ncube said the home officers will be attached to a specific police station within a locality.
“Each police operational station is dividing their policing areas into at least five patrol areas meaning that each police station is having five or more officers assigned to home officer scheme. It is important for the community to visit their nearest police station and meet the officer in charge and ask to see their own home officer and work with the police officer, “ said Insp Ncube.-@nqotshili
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