One thing that is lacking in policing standards in Zimbabwe is effective crowd management systems and this was badly exposed in the Premier Soccer League match between Highlanders and Chicken Inn at the weekend.
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This is not to excuse the violence that occurred at that game — which must be condemned in the strongest terms — but we feel the police ought to be skilled in how they handle volatile crowds.
In the past few years we have witnessed incidents where the police have had to retreat and were thumped by various people because of the lack of crowd control mechanisms.
The police were at the receiving end of an embarrassing hiding by an apostolic sect a few years ago, while Dynamos fans had them scurrying for cover recently.
Highlanders fans also forced the police — with their dogs in tow — to retreat at the weekend, an illustration that the force is ill-equipped to deal with explosive situations.
The police should be able to deal with crowds and be able to diffuse potentially violent situations in advance, as they say prevention is better than cure.
Where the police have responded to crowd trouble, they have sought to crush disturbances with violence and this only adds fuel to an already raging fire.
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Police responses, instead of containing the trouble, have triggered more clashes and this has led to destruction of property and injuries either to the force members or the public.
With Zimbabwe experiencing a growing wave of protests, there has never been a more important time than now for police to learn how to control crowds.
In any protest, no matter how peaceful, there are bound to be agents provocateurs, and it is the duty of the police not to allow such people to spoil demonstrations.
Police should be able to isolate such people without using that as an excuse to violently crush demonstrations that would have been approved either by the courts or the law enforcement agents themselves.
Cops should refrain from thinking any crowd trouble has to be forcefully put down, as by doing this they will be lending credence to accusations that they are corrupt, ineffective and ignore human rights concerns in the way they carry out their duties.
Back to football, police already know which stadiums there is likely to be violence and they need to come up with a pre-emptive strategy to contain the trouble.
It is not enough just to say such a team has violent supporters, but it is infinitely critical for authorities to know how they can handle any trouble and put it off before it even starts.
