During a tour by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs yesterday, Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri dismissed claims that his officers are sent out to road blocks with set targets to collect spot fines.
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… 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.
Chihuri also claimed that money collected from fines is managed by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and that whenever they want something, they go to the central bank governor for approval. Chihuri’s comments come after an undated memo claimed police officers had been told that their targets had been reviewed upwards.
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