Not safe to work after dusk - Kova
Interviewed, Dar es Salaam zone police commander Suleiman Kova told The Guardian in an exclusive interview that police posts only operate during the day because of a dire shortage of police officers.
Notably, the Dar es Salaam zone police commander’s explanation of a severe shortage of staff comes in the wake of 1000s of military trained ex-national service volunteers continue to appeal to the government for employment.
“We directed Officer Commanding Districts (OCD) and Regional Police Commanders (RPC) to ensure that the police posts do not operate at night until they are renovated, the number of police officers increased and weapons provided to ensure the security of the citizenry in such locations and their own security,” he said. “The police posts also lack weapons and housing…all these factors threaten the officers themselves,” Kova went on to explain.
“They now close police posts at 18:00hours,” Kova admitted.
“We know that police stations operate for 24 hours but police posts are also supposed to do likewise because we cannot rely on police stations that are far away from us,” lamented a Dar es Salaam resident to the Guardian earlier this week.
Opting for anonymity he suggested; “If they cannot operate both during the day and at night, it would be much better if the posts operated at night only because that is when most crimes take place,” he suggested.
“I think the police are afraid of the criminals that why they close at night,” he said.
“We used to operate for 24 hours but we realised that we
were risking the lives of our police officers as they were at the posts the whole night without any weapons,” Kinondoni Regional Police Commander Camillus Wambura revealed in his comments on the matter.
“But some of these posts had only one police officer each because of staff shortage, which is risky and not very helpful to the public,” he maintained.
However, other than the security of the officers as pointed out by Dar es Salaam zone police commander Kova, the Kinondoni Regional Police Commander Wambura cited the law saying; “Previously police posts used to operate at night but that was against the law.”
“Police laws direct that they should only operate during the day,” he alleged.
However, Commander Kova reassured the public that, “The force has already started working on these challenges to ensure police posts start operating 24 hours as is the case with police stations.”
He cited low quality police post buildings saying they are substandard and do not have the various security requirements that a police post should have like fences.
“We are now renovating these posts and have already started in the Vingunguti area in Ilala District, Dar es Salaam,’ he said.
“The Vingunguti police post is now a police station that operates for 24 hours with efficient number of police officers and weapons,” he noted.
“We have also done the same with the Kimara police post in Kinondoni District, Dar es Salaam, it too is now a police station and operating 24 hours…will keep on upgrading other police posts as well,’ he pledged.
Speaking in separate interviews with The Guardian in the course of the week, residents expressed their despair lamenting the fact that police are their last line of defence and with them closing their doors at night when crime is most prone to occur, leaves them vulnerable.
‘This arrangement threatens our lives and our property… security is never guaranteed at night,” lamented Rahim Abdu from Mabibo in the city.
He said police posts closing at night is surprising because that is when security is most needed; “It is no wonder why some wananchi even offered their plots of land for construction of police posts to increase security now they turn around and close them at night.”
“The fact that police posts do not operate at night creates opportunity for criminals to run freely and trouble wananchi,” said the concern citizen.
“These police posts are important, both during the day and at night,” said another city resident who opted for anonymity.
“Apart from offering security but when one is involved in an accident he/she needs Police Form No. three (PF3) in order to get treatment,” he pointed out.
“So how does a person in need of emergency care get a PF3 when the police posts are closed,” he queried.
Another resident of the city this time from the Kimara “B” area who also opted for anonymity, said it would be better if the posts do not operate during the day but instead operate only at night.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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