Be vigilant, promoted ZRP officers told

The survival of the police force largely depends on the ability of officers to deal with challenges, be able to scan the environment and act accordingly, Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga has said.

In a speech read on his behalf by Officer Commanding Police Mashonaland East Province Senior Assistant Commissioner Abigail Moyo during the conferment parade of 23 newly-promoted officers held at the provincial headquarters in Marondera on Friday, Comm-Gen Matanga urged officers to be vigilant and deal with modern-day challenges.

"The role of police officers has certainly mutated over the years and similarly, expectations of the public contemporary policing dictates that officers be vigilant and be ready to deal with an array of challenges on the policing terrain," he said.

"This is so because criminals have not only become daring, but have assumed greater sophistry in their operations. I, thus, urge you to be diligent and innovative in order to be robust in confronting any manner of criminal sophistry."

Comm-Gen Matanga said the organisation was embracing new technological strategies of combating crime and urged officers to continuously develop themselves so as to remain relevant and adaptive to policing dynamics.

"All of you as officers-in-charge shall be reservoirs of knowledge in operational planning and execution of the organisation's goals and objectives, thus it is necessary to involve your subordinates in all planning processes," he said.

Comm-Gen Matanga urged officers to shun all activities which put a dent on the organisation.

"As you assume your new positions of authority, I say go ye therefore, rise, shine and raise the standards higher," he said.

"Be disciplined at all times, shun behaviours that might bring our organisation into disrepute.

"The organisation does not have a place for any bad apples within its ranks, hence we shall continue to uphold the zero tolerance policy on corruption."