AfricaPress-Tanzania: TANZANIA Police Force (TPF) is on the verge of reviewing its Police General Order (PGO) that would incorporate addressing administration, operations, legal and regulatory framework as it maintains law and order.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam recently, Tanzania Commissioner of Police on Community Matters, Dr Mussa Mussa, further said since 2006 the workforce has been going through reform programmes especially reviewing Tanzania Police Force Reform Programme (TPFRP) and Medium Term Strategy 2010/2011 to 2014/2015 documents.
He said that was aimed at strengthening the capacity of the workforce to prevent and address crime and disorder situations professionally.
He further said the PGO review was also aimed at strengthening the capacity of the police to work with the local community amicably.
According to the project information sheet, the project would be implemented in Zanzibar to develop measures, which ensure human rights and rule of law are reinforced as prescribed in the PGO.
It would also see into it that PGO forge functional partnership with relevant institutions and enable all stakeholders observe human rights.
The project areas would cover zones of Zanzibar, Southern, Eastern, Lake, Central, Western and Southern Highlands.
However, recent reviews have shown that there are some key policing issues that lack laws and regulations, hence display inconsistencies in laws governing policing in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar.
The deficiencies in the PGO hence become seemingly inconsistent with present day realities in policing.
Dr Mussa further said: “the work of the Police Force is not only enforcing the law, but also working with the society to solve challenges, which affect them and that is why we are currently working on reviewing some of the General Police Orders. “The Police Reform Programme is aimed at creating a more dispersed visible, accessible, and service-oriented force, which interacts freely and gently with the community and sees its primary duty as protecting citizens.”
Elaborating, the top cop appreciated support provided by other stakeholders such as the Legal Services Facility (LSF) in promoting human rights and assisting the public to access justice in the country, saying: “The police force collaborates with institutions that we think we can work together and LSF’s support here, is well appreciated and hope it continues to work with the police force.”
The Tanzania Police Force (TPF) has made significant strides towards a more democratic and community-friendly approach that ensure peace and security are sustained.
In line with this, the PGO review would be a fundamental tool and instrument of police operations to rely on.
One of the expected results of this is the institutionalization of all Police duties and functions, formalization of Gender and Children’s Desks and TPF-Net in Tanzania Police Force.
It would also include defining the roles of Gender desks and its administrative procedures, effective Criminal Justice system, improve efficiency and uniformity of Police operations, update PGO which incorporate all current changes.
Some of the goals of the project would be to review the PGO in order to facilitate Police capacity, efficiency, and service delivery to include Gender and Children’s Desks (GCDs) and Tanzania Police Female Network (TPF-NET) in the PGO.
On institutionalizing the Gender Desks in Police Force, and defining the roles of Gender and Children’s Desks and its administrative procedure all stakeholders including discussions with the Chief Parliamentary Draftsperson (CPD) would be encouraged.