THERE has been a worrying trend of disputes between the Zambia Police Service and members of the public in the recent past.
Human life has been endangered while property worth a lot of money has been destroyed; begging the question as to why Police and the community cannot co-exist.
The community and Police should always dialogue whenever grievances arise because law enforcement agency existed to protect life and property.
This year is barely a month old and already the country has witnessed more than one incident of Police and members of the community at loggerheads over matters that could have been easily resolved through dialogue.
It was disheartening to see residents of Kafue’s Zambia Township riot on New Year’s Day after a Police officer knocked down a woman with his vehicle.
The woman, who was a trader at a local market, died, sparking wild riots among the residents who went on to damage property belonging to the law enforcement agency.
There was a similar reaction from a Kitwe mob after an officer fired a tear gas canister on a complainant who had gone to report a matter to the Police.
Unfortunately, the aggressive officer was in a drunken stupor and his actions undoubtedly left much to be desired.
President Edgar Lungu has since denounced the persistent differences between the Police and members of the public which are detrimental to the efforts of maintaining law and order.
Mr Lungu appealed for communities countrywide and the Police to work in unison so that the country could remain in tranquility, especially in an election year like this one.
“What we saw in Kafue was unfortunate because the Police and the community should not differ to the extent that property is destroyed.
“The people are destroying the property of the same Police to whom they run for protection when crime levels are high which should not be the case,” Mr Lungu said.
Acts of indiscipline in the Police Service such as the recent shooting of an innocent person by a Kitwe officer have also not amused the President.
He has called for an immediate stop to acts of indiscipline amongst officers and this stance has been sounded clearly to the Police command.
Speaking when he swore in Mr Peter Chingaipe as Police and Prisons Service Commission chairperson, Mr Lungu said; “I expect that what is going on in the Police; the shooting of innocent people should be brought to an end.
“Do not hesitate to fall down like a tonne of bricks on wrong doers, expedite disciplinary measures as removal of bad seeds from the Police depends on you,” Mr Lungu said.
Indeed, it is expected that there should be sanity in the service as the new command led by Inspector General of Police Kakoma Kanganja was recently installed.
The new Police command should move quickly and ensure the cleansing of the institution so that people get a better service.
There have been too many incidents of police officers doing wrong things and getting away with it, hence the need to quickly weed out the bad seeds.
It is gratifying to note that after the concerns raised by the public, Mr Kanganja has equally moved to sternly warn officers against the unbecoming behaviour of violating innocent citizens.
The Inspector General says unprofessional officers will be sternly disciplined to ensure that the uprising against the public was overcome.
Mob justice is a crime and members of the public must ensure that the Police are engaged whenever instances of wrongdoing were discovered.
Riotous behaviour will not solve anything because the members of the public are in need of the same Police infrastructure they are damaging.
A case in point was the increase in crime levels in Lusaka’s Garden Township after residents tore down the Police post in a dispute with the law enforcers.
Police should equally be alert in responding to reports of law breaking as sometimes delay in this regard may lead to mob justice.
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