POLICE MUST IMPROVE THEIR ACT

THE Zambia Police Service has of late been in the news for all the wrong reasons though this should not be the case it being the major law enforcement wing of the government.

While acknowledging the fact that police officers are human beings like other citizens, their job, demands they lead exemplary lives void of crime as law enforcers.

Unfortunately, there are a few wayward rotten eggs in the system who are wittingly committing all sorts of crimes and denting the image of the whole Police Service.

For example, it’s not strange to hear of police officers reporting drunk on duty in some stations, while reports of others receiving bribes to let suspects off the hook are not farfetched.

As if this is not enough, traffic police officers have persistently been accused of corruption. In fact, some have been caught getting bribes from erring motorists.

This has even prompted the high command to introduce bank accounts into which traffic fines are being deposited as opposed to paying directly to the officers.

Some greedy police officers have even gone to the extent of getting involved in counterfeit money deals to quickly and dubiously enrich themselves.

But how can the police who are custodians of the law commit crimes against the very people they are supposed to protect? This is totally in congruent with their role and the rules of justice.

This is why we vehemently concur with Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo’s latest warning to police officers to desist from committing crimes because quick and decisive punitive action would be meted on culprits.

The minister was reacting to reports that three police officers had been nabbed in connection with K2.4 million fake money.

To show the gravity of the warning, Mr Kampyongo said this time around, the government, together with the Inspector General of Police, had resolved to take decisive action against erring officers to maintain high levels of discipline among the men and women in uniform.

In the past such warnings from Mr Kampyongo or the Inspector General himself seem to have fallen on deaf ears going by the persistent high levels of indiscipline among some officers.

However, time has come for the State to walk the talk and weed out all the undisciplined officers who are tarnishing the image of the service as they are probably there by default.

And talking about counterfeit money, we are baffled that this issue has once again come back to the fore. It would seem the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC), the police and other security wings have lamentably failed get to the source of this dangerous money.

This time around the scam involves K2.4 million in fake money and sadly three police officers are reportedly involved. They have since been arrested.

We have said this before and we are saying it again. There is absolute need for the security wings to sniff the trail of such dirty money and track down the masterminds up to their lair.

Obviously this calls for joint efforts with the International Police or Interpol. Unless the masterminds are fished out and put behind bars, the fake currency will continue distorting the economy.

Given the gravity of this status quo, we appeal to DEC not to rest until architects of this crime are locked up. Failure to do will make innocent Zambians suffer because of its impact on the economy.

One thing is clear though, this is not the first time that DEC has arrested suspects in connection with fake currency. Those caught and jailed in the past must have provided some clues as to the source of the money surely – so where are the security wings missing it?