The Sunday Mail
IN 2003, street kids rummaging through a rubbish bin for food in Harare’s Avenues area stumbled upon a grisly sight.
Plastic bags with human body parts, including the liver and part of the groin had been dumped in the waste container at a block of flats on the corner of Sixth Street and Baines Avenue.
Another horrifying discovery was that of body parts in the Greenwood Park area near the Police General Headquarters.
Police investigators were perplexed as they could not conduct concrete DNA tests to determine if these killings were connected.
The identities of the corpses were never established.
The discoveries ignited panic and fear, prompting residents to tighten security and avoid walking alone at night. Word spread like a dry season veld fire that a serial killer was on the prowl in the Avenues.
These cold cases might have been solved had the police been equipped with advanced forensic skills and equipment.
We see it all the time on television on series such as “CSI: Miami” and other installments in that franchise: Expert crime scene investigators ferret out the most microscopic of clues and, using new technologies and good old fashioned police work, perpetrators are brought to book.
That has not been so in Zimbabwe, with even finger print analyses still constricted to manual, tedious comparisons by overworked and udnerpaid cops who simply want to do their jobs but are frustrated by a lack of resources and training for 21st century policing.
But get ready for “CSI: Harare”, with the Zimbabwe Republic Police – through its parent Home Affairs Ministry – and the University of Zimbabwe recently penning a memorandum of understanding to equip our law enforcement agents with Bachelor of Science (Honours) degrees in Forensic Science.
The Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs will also be brought on board so that the judiciary can also be conversant with forensic evidence when handling court cases.
Forensics refers to the application of science to criminal and civil law enforcement. Forensic scientists gather, preserve and analyse scientific evidence during the course of an investigation.
Forensic scientists testify as expert witnesses in criminal and civil cases and can work for either the prosecution or the defence.
Internationally, forensic scientists are gaining recognition as they provide reliable evidence in court cases.
With international forensic experts expected to come and lecture at the UZ, the proposed programme should change the face of policing in the country.
At a Police graduation ceremony last week, President Mugabe aired his concern over the increase in sophisticated criminal activities.
President Mugabe highlighted the need for police officers to further their education so that they learn with these new situations facing Zimbabwe.
“Without unnecessarily scaring them, graduates should be advised, right on their day of graduation, that the career in the police force is not a bed of roses.
I am quite sure that most of the senior police officers here will readily testify to that.
“We know live in a social environment which has ushered in novel and sophisticated crime.
Human trafficking, money laundering and terrorism, among other new crimes, which a few years back, were almost unknown to us. But today’s criminal syndicates, are better organised, more prevalent, sophisticated and daring.
“They have no respect for national borders, the sanctity of human life and will not stop at nothing in their criminal endeavours.”
The Ministry of Home Affairs is making serious efforts to modernise the Police Criminal Investigations Department by installing a Frauds Computer Laboratory and the Automated Fingerprints Identification System.The two facilities will go a long way in providing and improving police officers’ investigative skills.
As stakeholders applaud the proposed introduction of the programme, concerns have been made regarding Government’s ability to retain such a specialised workforce.
There are genuine fears that some of the trained officers might be tempted to move to other countries where they will be offered better working conditions.Mr Maxwell Rafemoyo of the Education Coalition of Zimbabwe said, “First and foremost, this is a noble development.
The need for such specialists is there and the resources can be pooled together so that the programme becomes a resounding success. The problem might arise when it comes to retaining the trained personnel.
“We risk becoming a training ground for other countries.
Zimbabwe has failed to retain medical doctors, teachers, pharmacists and teachers among other specialists. Since the programme would be world class, we risk losing personnel to both the regional and global market.”
The 2003 Zimbabwe Brain Drain Study Report, overseen by Professor Christopher Chetsanga, estimates that the country lost over 400 000 professionals between 1990 and 2002.
