Chihuri dishes heavy punishment to corrupt ZRP police officers

The Zimbabwe Republic Police has deployed investigators countrywide to arrest corrupt officers, with some posing as ordinary commuters to monitor roadblocks.

The operation is part of a broad framework formulated by the ZRP to create a corruption-free force with worldclass policing standards.

The ZRP Internal Investigations Department is leading the charge, and has been holding regular briefings with Commissioner-General Dr Augustine Chihuri who has previously spoken strongly against corruption.

Some officers have been arrested for taking bribes at roadblocks.

Rogue officers at roadblocks usually hide corruption proceeds in their cars.

Police national spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said: “We have developed a new customer care curriculum partly as a response to the complaints we receive everyday over the problems members of the public encounter when dealing with some of our officers on the roads.

“As I speak, we are training our officers on modern customer care methods, especially how to handle motorists at roadblocks. When we developed this curriculum, we had gone around the country sourcing views from the motoring public.

“We were told of incidents where motorists were mistreated by officers, with some saying they were forced to park on the side of the road before being ignored for very long periods. We are now arresting those culprits and charging them with malperfomance, use of excessive power and criminal abuse of office, in some cases.”

Snr Asst Comm Charamba said all senior officers had been directed to deal with corruption whenever it crops up in their departments, and failure to act would attract punitive action.