Police Commissioner General Godwin Matanga has bemoaned the lack of technology within the service saying it has a bearing on the quality of investigations.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) is grappling with technical challenges in gathering evidence on cybercrime and other sophisticated cases as criminals are manipulating advances in technology to broaden and perpetuate delinquencies in a complex manner.
Addressing stakeholders at the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) strategic meeting in Harare, Matanga said the ZRP is failing to curb cybercrimes because they are not equipped enough.
“Zimbabwe is the only country the region that is uncomputerised and we are failing to tackle cybercrimes among other issues. All the cases that are brought before the courts come through the police and ZACC. Unfortunately for police we are not computerized. As long as we remain uncomputerised, we will have a bad bearing in the quality of our investigations.
“On that very same note it’s very unfortunate that the world over now have migrated online, even where you would want to see police patrolling the streets, even in the areas where you leave, they now employ artificial intelligence,” Matanga said.
He said the ZRP is the only organization in the region yet to embrace technology.
“Patrols are done technologically, you see cameras all the way from your home to work even to the farms so as police we are requesting for the same gadgets so that we can carry out our duties without any problems. Unfortunately when I talk about technology, even within the region, I know that we are the only police organization in the region that is not computerized. At some point we will be found wanting because we won’t be connected to other regional networks, we will then remain a problem because in whatever we do even talking to friends we must do it technologically,” he said.
Matanga raised concern in terms of confidentiality as to how Chirundu police convey information using systems at a local bank.
