Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri has said the use of spikes at roadblocks is a necessary defence for traffic officers who ri...
Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri has said the use of spikes at roadblocks is a necessary defence for traffic officers who risk being run over by unruly motorists amid claims that at least 36 officers were either killed or injured on the country’s roads last year alone.
Commissioner General Chihuri said the practice was not found in the Zimbabwe Republic Police alone. He was responding to an application by human rights activist Mr Okay Machisa to have the use of spikes to deflate vehicles at roadblocks declared unconstitutional.Commissioner General Chihuri said the practice was justified and was supported by a section of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, which provides for the use of minimum force.
“During the period stretching from January to December 2016, a total of 36 police officers were deliberately and negligently killed or maimed manning roadblocks countrywide and these perpetrators, who, with constructive intent, run over police officers, intentionally do not stop despite having committed such serious offences,” said Commissioner General Chihuri.
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| Unbelievable -- Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri Defends Use Of Spikes |
He added that the spikes were used cautiously and only in extreme cases.
“It is submitted that when using spikes, members of the ZRP are called upon to exercise cautiousness and reasonability and only use spikes in extreme cases.
“These spikes are not dangerously thrown but as already alluded to, they are laid on the ground upon a vehicle being stopped,” reads the opposing affidavit.
Responding to Mr Machisa’s suggestion that traffic officers should simply note down the registration numbers of the fleeing vehicles, Commissioner General Chihuri said the suggestion was theoretical.
“It is submitted that due to the extreme lawlessness that has become the order of the day, there is a lot of fake number plates being used resulting in challenges when making a follow-up in that some of these plates can hardly be traced or alternatively, do not exist at all in the system,” he said.
“Its (suggestion) implementation remains more or less theoretical than practical especially considering that the errant motorists are evading a roadblock at high speed or alternatively have knocked down a police officer,” Commissioner General Chihuri said.
Grabbing a pen, piece of paper and trying to memorise the registration number, the police boss said, was not practical when the offender was speeding.
The use of spikes, according to Commissioner General Chihuri, was an effective traffic enforcement method internationally and in Zimbabwe it is governed by police reference and source books used in police training and police operations.
“It also emanates from the use of minimum force as governed by an Act of Parliament, the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act to be precise,” reads the opposing affidavit.
Commissioner General Chihuri said spikes were also necessary to restore order in Harare’s central business district and other towns.
“It is my fervent belief that the use of spikes is necessary, reasonably justifiable and proportionate in view of the general hostility and lawlessness by the motoring public that have become a menace especially in Harare’s CBD and other towns.
“Such lawlessness has led to vehicles picking and dropping passengers at undesignated places (both public service and private vehicles commonly known as mushika-shika).
“Some end up driving against One Way, speeding and in general disregard of police roadblocks, police signs and road signs, some riding on bumpers and tail gates. The list is endless,” reads the opposing affidavit.
Last month Zimbabwe Human Rights Association director Mr Machisa filed an application at the High Court challenging the constitutionality of police using spikes at roadblocks, saying the practice had the potential of damaging property, injuring or killing people.
In the court application, Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri and Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo were listed as respondents in their official capacities.
Mr Machisa wants an order declaring the practice unconstitutional. He also seeks another order prohibiting the practice with immediate effect.
The activist said the use of spikes or any other deflating devices was not supported by legislation.
Mr Machisa argued that justifiable or minimum force was employed in serious offences but that most traffic offences were minor, fineable and did not warrant drastic measures like spike-throwing.
Throwing spikes without compunction, the activist said, was a violation of the right to administrative justice as enshrined in Section 68 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Source: Chronicle
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