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| NEWS > 19 January 2007 |
Other related articles:
Hawthorne officers accused of
Police personnel, including the chief's son, accused of breaking man's jaw during arrest were never interviewed during the internal affairs query. Victims and witnesses weren't called either.
After Anthony Goodrow complained that he had been brutalized by Hawthorne police officers during an arrest nearly three years ago, department officials said they "conducted an in-depth and thorough internal investigation."
Their conclusion: Officers acted appropriately and did not use excessive force.
That finding, however, appears at odds with the city's payment of $1 million i... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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The Zimbabwean - Harare,Africa
19 January 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Commissioner Chiwuri
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Corruption - survival strategy
HARARE - The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has become an institution of general corruption and abuse of human rights, an investigation into the operations at Harare Central Police Station over a period of eight days revealed.
The state of the police force is largely the result of poor remuneration for employees as well as the institutionalized culture of human rights abuses emanating from the top of the Mugabe regime.
The recent investigations established that lower and middle-ranked police officers were earning take-home salaries of between $30 000 and $55 000.
"This is my earning, if you thought I was joking, and there are some earning less," a police officer working in the Investigations department said holding a pay slip showing his take-home pay of $42 455.
As a result, corruption has become a survival strategy.
It was intriguing to witness first hand what happens when things fall apart in a country as has happened in Zimbabwe.
Bribes are openly sought, usually in the form of complainants being advised to "do something" for the police officers in return for their case being handled quickly.
The officers exploit the widespread ignorance the functions of the police and the courts courts.
Members of the force generally imply to arrested persons that going to court would be the end of their credibility, or chances to escape without jail sentences. "Are you sure you want your case to go to court and will you be able to face the Magistrate, understand his English and escape prison?" one IO was heard asking an accused person.
In another case witnessed by this writer, a police officer from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Law and Order Section was handling a fraud case, apparently because he had been the first to receive a call from the complainant who knew him before. Efforts by the accused to query why the case wasn't referred to the fraud section were frustrated through him being beaten under the feet before thrown into the cells.
The Law and Order officer went on to handle the case in which the accused was alleged to have defrauded a woman of US$2000 during a black market transaction.
The accused, who hired a lawyer, spent six days in the cells characterized by occasional call-ups for beatings. He only met his lawyer once and was released on the sixth day after his wife and brothers had raised enough money in Zimbabwe dollars to pay the complainant.
The accused, who spoke on condition of anonymity, later told this reporter: "My wife tells me they were told by the IO that I wouldn't escape a jail term and they sold my property at home to raise the Z$2,5 million to pay the complainant. They also say the IO asked for $100 000 for him to allow for the matter to be settled before we went to court."
At the cells, where conditions are appalling, this reporter spoke to 16 males and two females who had spent up to 12 days in detention, were not aware or sure of their charges and had never had any police officer come to speak to them.
They had to survive on a small morsel of sadza with about six or seven beans swimming in a brown pool of water, served only once a day on six out of the eight days of investigations.
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