Opinion / Columnist
Police roadblocks driven by Cash than Purpose
28 Jul 2014 at 14:31hrs | Views
Police roadblocks which are rampant on our roads are under scrutiny for the validity of their existence. Roadblocks are such a nuisance nowadays that they are sometimes found after every 5km. One would wonder what purpose they are serving which the first could not resolve.
Surprisingly, it is quite conspicuous that they are driven more for purposes of raking in cash than executing real police duties of law enforcement on traffic. For example, Kombis are issued tickets for the same crimes everyday or they pay bribes to traffic police officers for the same crimes daily. Under such circumstances, one would naturally start questioning the role of the law enforcement authority on our roads daily when they cannot fight traffic offences up to the final end.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police Highway Patrol unit is infamous for pursuing cash targets which are set by their superiors and in the course of executing their duty the officers are always accused of taking bribes from the motoring public. Surely if one interrogates the logic of putting a target to a policing arm, isn't it crystal clear that we risk compromising the legal core mandate of the police in enforcing the law? Should we pay special attention to meeting targets or crime eradication?
Police should impound and act upon all vehicles which endanger human lives on our roads. The most mind boggling issue is that of Kombis, which operate with impunity, freely roaming despite their defective state. On average, a kombi passes through at least four or more roadblocks per day. And they are let go as long as they pay a small bribe to the traffic cop manning the roadblock.
Human life is made vulnerable by such corrupt tendencies which are diminishing the integrity of the police force. It's high time that priority is given to the national law enforcement agents' re-definition and re-branding in order to realign them with the needs, and expectations of the society. We certainly need to restore sanity so that police are able to regulate the jungle that has become characteristic of our society.
ZRP superiors are urged to desist from assigning their junior officers on roadblocks to meet targets, but to enforce the laws of the land and bring all deviants to face justice. The core business of police is not to raise funds for the Organisation, but to enforce the law. The fact that they may make a dollar here and a penny should be purely incidental. They should leave that job of raising funds for the treasury to ZIMRA. Otherwise we are creating clashes on their job descriptions with other relevant national institutions.
Interestingly, if you come to a roadblock, a traffic cop hastens to write the ticket before he levels the charges against you. This reflects that police roadblocks are driven by cash than purpose.
-------------------
Suitable Kajau can be contacted at kajausuitable@gmail.com
Surprisingly, it is quite conspicuous that they are driven more for purposes of raking in cash than executing real police duties of law enforcement on traffic. For example, Kombis are issued tickets for the same crimes everyday or they pay bribes to traffic police officers for the same crimes daily. Under such circumstances, one would naturally start questioning the role of the law enforcement authority on our roads daily when they cannot fight traffic offences up to the final end.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police Highway Patrol unit is infamous for pursuing cash targets which are set by their superiors and in the course of executing their duty the officers are always accused of taking bribes from the motoring public. Surely if one interrogates the logic of putting a target to a policing arm, isn't it crystal clear that we risk compromising the legal core mandate of the police in enforcing the law? Should we pay special attention to meeting targets or crime eradication?
Police should impound and act upon all vehicles which endanger human lives on our roads. The most mind boggling issue is that of Kombis, which operate with impunity, freely roaming despite their defective state. On average, a kombi passes through at least four or more roadblocks per day. And they are let go as long as they pay a small bribe to the traffic cop manning the roadblock.
Human life is made vulnerable by such corrupt tendencies which are diminishing the integrity of the police force. It's high time that priority is given to the national law enforcement agents' re-definition and re-branding in order to realign them with the needs, and expectations of the society. We certainly need to restore sanity so that police are able to regulate the jungle that has become characteristic of our society.
ZRP superiors are urged to desist from assigning their junior officers on roadblocks to meet targets, but to enforce the laws of the land and bring all deviants to face justice. The core business of police is not to raise funds for the Organisation, but to enforce the law. The fact that they may make a dollar here and a penny should be purely incidental. They should leave that job of raising funds for the treasury to ZIMRA. Otherwise we are creating clashes on their job descriptions with other relevant national institutions.
Interestingly, if you come to a roadblock, a traffic cop hastens to write the ticket before he levels the charges against you. This reflects that police roadblocks are driven by cash than purpose.
-------------------
Suitable Kajau can be contacted at kajausuitable@gmail.com
Source - Suitable Kajau
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
