Questions police are refusing to answer

05 Jun, 2016 - 00:06 0 Views
Questions police are refusing to answer National police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba

The Sunday Mail

These are the questions that were sent to Senior Assistant Commissioner, Charity Charamba, on Thursday May 26 by this publication and were not answered by the time of going to print last Sunday. Follow-ups to have the questions answered this week did not yield any results.
There are a number of questions from concerned motorists about the manner in which police officers are conducting road blocks.
1. The presence and frequency of police on the road point to a rather extortionate pattern. For example, from Glen Norah to the city centre, one is bound to pass through at least five road blocks on a distance of about 15 kilometres. The police have the same presence on the national highways. Is the ratio fair? How does the police explain such a presence?
2. What factors determine where and when police can mount a road block?
3. Apart from their presence, even if a motorist satisfies all the requirements, a police officer will go out of his or her way to find an offence. Some of the common complaints from motorists is the “small” spare wheel that comes with ex-Japan models, which is considered illegal. If a car manufacturer like Audi, VW or Mercedes Benz have found it safe to include that spare wheel in their models, why do the police find it illegal? Which legal instrument bans the use of the spare wheel?
4. Similarly, motorists have been fined for having the fire extinguisher in the boot of the car, and not in the passenger compartment. Given that passenger vehicles do not have an allowance for a fire extinguisher in the passenger compartment, wouldn’t it be hazardous to have the extinguisher in the front? As well, which statutory instrument instructs that fire extinguishers should not be carried in the car’s boot?
5. Other motorists complain of being fined for not displaying the fluorescent vest. Does it have to be displayed or it should it in the vehicle?
6. The stop sign has equally been contentious. For how long should a motorist stop at a stop sign, so that the police officer should not stop one for not stopping at the sign?
7. Similarly, why should a vehicle turning right and in the middle of an intersection, be fined for proceeding against a red robot, when in fact the vehicle entered the intersection when the robot was green and was giving way?
8. How does the speed trap work on a highway? What rights are within a motorist to ensure that the machine being used is in working order? Should a police officer clear the machine before showing the motorist?
9. Is it illegal for a motorist to carry people, in his or her private car, whose names he or she does not know?
10. Why, as questioned in Number 1, is it that police road blocks disappear at 5pm? Should the police knock off duty, like office workers?
11. If police are for maintaining law and order, as they would like us to believe, why is it, for example, that at the ZBC intersection in Mbare, chaos reigns there after 5pm, when the police would have knocked off, and kombi crews do as they wish? Mbare police station is a stone throw away. Similarly, in Glen Norah, where High Glen Road meets Sebakwe Road, the mushika-shika crew will be doing as they wish, just a stone throw away from Glen Norah police station? In the CBD, at the corner of Jason Moyo Avenue and Simon Muzenda Street, the kombi and mushika-shika do as they wish, in spite of the presence of police officers.
12. Has the police failed to deal with the kombi and mushika-shika menace?
13. Why doesn’t the police react quickly enough to restore law and order when traffic lights fail in the CBD or elsewhere?
14. Any further comments would be welcome.

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