POLICE Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri yesterday dismissed claims that his officers are sent out to road blocks with set targets to collect spot fines when asked during a tour by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs yesterday.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA
Chihuri said he could not send his officers out with targets because crimes are not predetermined.
“We do not give targets for anyone because fines are a result of a commission of an offence and you can’t set a target for commission of an offence,” he said.
“… let’s assume an officer goes on the road and no one is found guilty for any traffic offence and you would have given that officer a target.”
While Parliament was told last week that the police have been pocketing as much as $59 million a year, Chihuri claimed money collected from fines is managed by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
“Secondly, when traffic money is collected, it is deposited into the account, which is managed by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Whenever we want something, we go to the central bank governor for approval. I know people had a misconception that all collected money comes here, no,” the police boss said, admitting that police indeed kept a portion without providing figures.
This comes as an undated memo claimed police officers had been told that their targets had been reviewed upwards. NewsDay could not verify the authenticity of the memo at the time of going to print
