THE DAMAGE ON OPPOSITION VEHICLES IN KITWE IS A FAILURE OF POLICING

THE DAMAGE ON OPPOSITION VEHICLES IN KITWE IS A FAILURE OF POLICING

Several points must be made. When the Electoral Commission of Zambia decided and eventually issued a campaign schedule, it was precisely to prevent violence.

This provided the police with enough time to prepare ahead of time. They knew exactly where the opposition was going to be. By the same token, they must have imagined some of the possible developments often associated with such operations

It’s not possible that intel regarding a planned attack against the opposition was unknown to the police. Naturally, this time around, police deploy their intelligence gathering assets into the camps of various political players to facilitate effective policing.

In countries where policing is strictly civil unlike our political policing culture, the Copperbelt Police Chief would have faced a serious probe.

Remember the scrutiny the US Secret Service faced following an assassination attempt on Donald Trump during a campaign rally when he was an opposition candidate, someone lost their job.

That’s standard operating procedure when there’s a breach of security. BM8 is the leading opposition contender. Therefore, the police should have by now beefed up security around him.

It’s not personal. It’s in the defense of democracy. Lead opposition figures become targets for violent attacks thus requiring the protection of the state.

How hard can this be to understand and appreciate? When they want to disrupt an opposition gathering, the police have all the resources and work ‘efficiently’!

But when it comes to protecting the same opposition against violence, suddenly, the police have no manpower!

I don’t really know what it ll take to have a police that can defend the public, public interest and democracy.