Chihuri warns lazy cops

The Zimbabwe Republic Police will soon offload redundant and non-performing senior police officers whose lackadaisical approach to work is costing the force, Police Commissioner-General Dr Augustine Chihuri said yesterday.

He said the senior police commanders at Police General Headquarters were keeping an eye on all activities taking place in all the 10 police administrative provinces.

He said this yesterday while addressing senior police officers who are attending an Assistant Commissioners' Seminar 1/2016 in Harare.

"I am, however, aware of some senior officers who are in the habit of passively resisting directives and a penchant for adopting a 'wait-and-see' attitude hoping that we will not follow up on our expectations.

"Let me stress this and make my stance abundantly clear; the Command at Police General Headquarters is keeping a forensic eye on all activities taking place at your (assistant commissioners) respective provinces. There are those who decide to adopt a lackadaisical approach towards work, either thinking that they have gotten the ranks they aspired for, or that they have seen it all in their current ranks," he said.

"If there are such people among this group, they will have no one to blame but themselves should they suddenly find themselves offloaded."

Comm-Gen Chihuri said the force refused to be home to reluctant officers "who tend to retire when they are serving".

"So do not blame anyone if the organisation decides to confirm your retirement. Indeed, while we value positive experience of our senior officers, we at the same time and with equal measure, abhor tardiness; physical presence with mental and spiritual absenteeism," he said.

He said they needed transformative leadership especially at their level that stood ready to lay and build firm foundations for the sustenance of peace in the country.

Comm-Gen Chihuri said the seminar was significant in that it would allow them to share policing experiences and interrogate areas that required improvement.

"The tendency where some misguided senior officers act as relay neurons that transmit reports occurring in their provinces to Police General Headquarters or the command, without interrogating or adding value to them, will surely quicken your way to early retirement. So, let those with ears hear. I urge you to be guided accordingly," he said.

He said contemporary policing demanded skills, knowledge, well-reasoned and informed innovation that allowed police officers to work around a multitude of challenges.

"When economic growth is stunted, the political environment polarised, seasoned police officers demonstrate a broad-based understanding of their long-term impact and wider implications.

"You thus are expected to be professionally astute and able to properly read situations aptly and exhibit sound judgment. Education, of one form or another, is paramount in order to cope with the rapid and often complex changes in the policing environment," Comm-Gen Chihuri said.

He said the nation in general and their subordinates looked forward to the assistant commissioners for direction and guidance.

"In your various capacities at your stations of deployment, we thus expect you to be fully alert to national demands and extremely concerned about all matters that tend to threaten national peace, law and order and stability.

"Let us therefore work round the clock to discharge our constitutional obligations without fear or favour," Comm-Gen Chihuri said.

He said the assistant commissioners should be fully geared at all times to join forces with progressive Zimbabweans and visitors to deal with criminal elements.