Africa-Press – Tanzania. PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan yesterday hinted that one of the criteria she would concentrate on promoting Police Officers is an individual’s steady performance record in combating crimes in the country.
The President’s statement made in Dar es Salaam came with a warning that some people who are testing the force by indulging in criminal activities, should immediately refrain from such acts as Police are on full alert.
“One of the criteria I will use to promote officers will be their efforts and strategies independently in fighting armed robberies,” she stated. The Head of State made the remarks after launching the police first garment factory in the country’s commercial capital.
The factory has been constructed with the Force’s internal sources to the tune of 666.4m/- instead of 1.4bn/-that could have been spent supposing it was leased to a foreign contractor.
This is the second time the president directed the police force to strengthen security measures to weed out crime that seems to start sprouting in the country.
Recently, while addressing Dar es Salaam’s elders, President Samia noted that the city has started experiencing some crime incidences, a situation that was largely controlled in the past.
A day after her concern, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Simon Sirro (pictured) convened a meeting with the top cops to strategize on how to combat the crimes.
“I am happy that following my previous statement the IGP held a meeting with the senior police officers and set up a strategy on how to fight crimes,” pointed out Ms Samia.
However, she challenged them to deploy the entire force countrywide and see to it that criminals pose no threat to the citizens and their property.
“I ask you to be tough when facing criminals; you don’t have reasons to fail. You should organize yourselves and make sure you arrest whoever tries to make you fail,” she added.
Equally, the Head of State noted that gender-based violence (GBV) has continued to be a big problem and asked the police to seriously intervene, saying: “GBV incidences have continued to occur in our communities, and some people do not report them, therefore you must work hard to ensure such issues are addressed.
“I call upon the members of the public to report to the police such crimes in order to succeed in eradicating them.”
On road safety, she said the police should introduce a system that would see drivers, who have committed traffic offences repeatedly booked in such a way their data is retrieved in any region he/she commits another road accident.
In line with this, she raised her concern over the law which requires an accident victim to seek a PF3 (Police Form 3) before getting medical treatment.
“You need to review this law, we are losing many people because they are denied medical attention until they produce a PF3 report, this must be reviewed so that an injured person first gets treatment and thereafter other formalities to follow as required by police,” said the Head of State.
On cybercrime, she said apart from biometric SIM card registration, still criminals were able to conduct their illegal activities.
To address it, she directed the police force to liaise with the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) and the telecommunication companies to ensure they arrest the criminals.
However, she commended the police force and other security organs for their continued efforts to ensure security prevails in the country.
“The existing security situation is mainly attributed to a good job done by the police force in collaboration with other security organs,” noted President Samia.
Narrowing to Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) on crime fighting, President Samia directed the officers to ensure they collect strong evidence before arresting any suspects and charging them in the court of law.
That was after it was learnt that PCCB had dropped 147 cases due to lack of substantial evidence.
