ID tags irk junior cops

ove, introduced in September last year, has gathered momentum, with police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri telling provincial, district and station commanders to be strict on those junior officers who are reluctant to obey the new law.
“When this order first came last year, it was directed to those officers doing traffic duties. However, the Commissioner changed and re-directed it to every non-commissioned police officer in December. Right now our commanders are supervising people to go and queue up at their provincial ordinance stores (where police collect their kit) so that they can be issued with the name tags and force numbers,” said a Bulawayo-based police inspector.
The bold tags, which some of the officers are already wearing, are sewn above their left breasts on their jerseys, shirts, jackets and blouses.
The junior officers, who are said to have initially tried to resist the new move, are said to have started to scramble for the name tags and force numbers early this month, when the newly-introduced Sergeant Majors began making follow-ups and punishing those who do not have the tags.
“It is unfortunate that the Commissioner, who has over the years failed to provide us with uniforms and to have our salaries reviewed upwards, is busy coining pieces of legislation that are meant to further frustrate us. Right now we are having the new tags sewn onto our ragged kit while he is sitting there in Harare doing nothing to have the ordinance re-stocked with new kit,” said one junior police officer.
Police deputy national spokesman, Chief Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka, confirmed the latest police move, saying it would not only reduce corruption but also ensure that junior police officers did their jobs properly.
However, some non-commissioned officers have complained that the new law is meant to gag them, as most of them had begun to speak openly against the country’s disastrous economic situation.
“They just want to silence us because we have realised that the main cause of our suffering is this old man (Mugabe) who we are made to protect. However, some of us will not keep quiet because we have got nothing to lose,” vowed another junior police officer.
Non-commissioned ranks in the ZRP are those of Assistant Inspector, Sergeant and Constables, who have been described by Home Affairs Minister, Kembo Mohadi and the government’s spy agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) as not being loyal to the government.