Crime falls in Mash West

Chinhoyi(New Ziana) – Crime in Mashonaland West Province went down by seven percent last year compared to the previous year, a senior provincial police officer has said.

Officer Commanding for the province, assistant commissioner Priscillar Makotose said crime in the region had gone down from 21 140 in 2018 to 19 144 last year, representing a seven percent fall.

She attributed the drop to effective policing, despite the province’s acute manpower shortage.

Makotose said Mashonaland West province had a manpower gap of 900 police officers, and also suffered challenges of transport and stationery, among other things.

“In Mashonaland West police have a membership of 3 915 police officers with a shortfall of 900 police officers. Out of 36 vehicles only 13 are reliable. In 2018, we recorded a total of 21 140 cases while in 2019 we had 19 144, the figure declined by 7 percent and we had a set target of 3 percent,” she said.

Despite the challenges, Makotose said police in the province last year accounted for most armed robbers operating in Mashonaland West, including a machete gang that murdered an officer of the force.

Armed robbery, stock theft, drug abuse and rape topped the crimes committed in the province.

“Most armed robbers were accounted for,” Makotose said.

She urged the public not to keep large amounts of money at home, but bank it, saying not doing so lured robbers to break into homes.

New Ziana