Vital public Police information

THIS week the police bring you an update on how to access your police stations and their respective commanders.

We acknowledge and appreciate that knowing your police stations helps to easily make reports or communicating your concerns if you have issues with the manner your cases are handled by police.

It is our sincere wish that as beneficiaries of police service, you are properly positioned and enabled to meaningfully contribute to the way you are policed.

To begin with, we should all remember that one sure way of preventing crime is to ensure that every crime committed is reported, accounted for and offenders brought to book.

We brook crime each time we do not report its prevalence among us. There are, however, situations on the ground that the general public need to understand in terms of police operations and initiating and conducting the investigation process.

Police stations just like provinces are demarcated into areas of policing or jurisdiction within each province. The stations are ordinarily required to deal with cases that occur within their defined policing boundaries, but then this should never affect the public in any way. A person can report any case to any nearest police officer or station to their convenience at any time regardless of the fact that the offence took place in an area outside the station or officer’s area of jurisdiction.

The station’s responsibility would now be to ensure the case is managed as far as possible which means doing all that needs to be done to bring it to its logical conclusion after which the case can now be transferred to the relevant station for further management.

This includes things like taking down the report, recording of statements of complainants and witnesses, arresting of offenders and recovering and securing of exhibits or any other form of evidence.

This then means a person cannot be turned away from a police station because the offence occurred in an area that does not fall within that station’s policing area.

For general information, Manicaland Province has 30 operational stations each of which is headed by an Officer-In-Charge who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the station. In one previous edition of Crime Watch, we highlighted that Officer-In-Charge at stations can be of the rank of either Chief Inspector or Inspector, depending on the size of the station.

The size is often determined by the station’s population and crime rate.

It is very prudent for citizens to always know which station is responsible for policing their area of residence, business or any under taking in addition to having details of the Officer in Charge or his deputies at hand.

Mutare Central District, for instance, has four police stations namely, Mutare Central, Dangamvura, Sakubva and Chikanga.

The Mutare Central District command is located at the Mutare Central District Headquarters.

Due to its urban status residents within this district, often find themselves in situations where they are often located closer to a station that falls outside the policing boundary of the station they are expected to report their cases to. In this scenario their issues can be handled as highlighted before.

For your convenience, we give you details of some of the station commanders for Mutare Central district and other contact numbers.

The current Officer-In-Charge for Mutare Central is Chief Inspector Rukunda contactable on number 0712 297 125.

The charge office number is 02020-64281. The station has a shift system and each shift has a person who is in charge. For any assistance on any matter regarding services rendered, feel free to ask for the in charge in each shift or any senior officer present but ideally when not satisfied, you may not leave the station unless you have seen station’s OfficerIn-Charge.

The Officer-In-Charge for Dangamvura is Chief Inspector Sakurungo contactable on 0772 657 968 and the charge office number is 02021-31543.

The contact number for ZRP Sakubva Officer-In-Charge, Chief Inspector Nyadore, is 0715 841 760. The charge office number is 02020-64717 while the one for OfficerIn-Charge Chikanga, Inspector Tembo, is 0715 753 852. The Charge Office number is 0220-201-300.

The stations mentioned above report to an Officer titled Officer Commanding Mutare Central District, Chief Superintendent Marume, contactable on 0773 015 898.

You can also contact the district, at any given time, through its switch-board number 02020-64212 and request for the operations office.

The District Community Relations Liaison Officer Assistant Inspector Zvashura is contactable on number 0773 473 597.

We recommend that you engage the station command in all matters of policing that affect you. Be satisfied that the matter has been solved or if not ensure that you have fully engaged the officer in charge until you are satisfied that he has failed to assist you after which you can then seek help from higher command. We will keep you updated on details of stations in other districts in the next editions of this column. ◆