POLICE on Wednesday raised a red flag over the recent sharp increase in murder, armed robbery, fraud and money-laundering cases.
by XOLISANI NCUBE
Addressing a senior staff workshop on crime management, Deputy Commissioner-General (crime) Josephine Shambare said there has been a “disturbing trend stemming from the increase in crimes of concern, particularly unlawful entry, armed robbery and attempted murder”.
“As police officers, needless to mention though , we should be wary of the increase in these cases and as we converge, let us remain mindful of the nascent need for us to formulate pragmatic crime prevention strategies geared towards raising our crime detection level and improving our investigative capacity,” Shambare said.
The workshop, which seeks to empower police responsible for crime management with better investigating skills and crime management levels, saw top officers drawn from Harare, Manicaland, Mashonaland East and West and Mashonaland Central joining the Criminal Investigation Department.
Shambare said the police commandant was worried about the slow rate of crime investigation, which in turn had resulted in a huge backlog of cases at the Magistrate’s Courts.