Police Officers Exposed To Coronavirus
5 April 2020
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BY DR MASIMBA MAVAZA

Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Zimbabwe National Army members are being exposed to Coronavirus as they are deployed to the domain with no protection at all.

Police officers and Soldiers warned shortages of appropriate equipment may put lives of Service members at risk
Frontline police staff are at risk of dying from Covid-19 as they are deployed in the frontline with no protective gear eve a glove or a face mask.

The duty of care is about ensuring that the right tools are available at the right time as the outbreak progresses and that the correct gear is used for public care to ensure the safety of the Police Officers and their families.

Face masks and gloves are needed for situations which puts you in contact with people who might be infected.

Zimbabwe is seeing a growing number of those seriously ill, and those with symptoms but not yet tested.

The police have been deployed in the streets to enforce compliance but they are not protected.

There is a great fear that they could pass the infection on to their families and work mates after catching it at work because of poor protection.
Officers who are dealing most closely with the suspected Covid-19 people are most worried.

Shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) appear to be widespread across the Police service and include GP practices as well as hospitals.

Police officers are engaged in running battles with people in the streets in trying to enforce the lock down. The mentality of the senior officers who deploy these officers in the streets without protection is questionable.

This borders around lines of witchcraft.
Officers mingle with people every day they are putting their lives on the line.
Every day a policeman on the front line is brushing shoulders with death.

The whole system lacks wisdom and it seriously depressing.

There is no logic in enforcing a lockdown by exposing the officers to the very virus they are meant to protect the public from.
The situation is dire and urgent action has to be taken.

The police force in Zimbabwe is mismanaged highly neglected and is being run down. Our police officers resemble the chief’s security officers.
There is generally no support for the police. The police have no tools of trade.
Imagine ninety five percent of the Police stations have no cars no fuel nothing.

Officers have to ask the complainant to provide transport
Officer’s in charge queue for transport with juniors and with the members of the public.
The police force has been reduced to stooges in uniform. No wonder why they do not command any respect from the public.

Imagine when the whole world is panicking because of Corona our police are sent to mingle with the public with no protection.

Is this a plan to wipe the police force and blame Corona. Is this a planned genocide on the police why are our police officers neglected and treated like junks.

The most painful thing is that the senior officers have four cars each.

These are top of the range vehicles. If the Range Rovers the commissioners uses as their shopping basket are to be sold they can buy fifteen cars for rural stations. But no the commissioners needs Range Rovers for their shopping. lexus for their small houses Ford rangers for their girl friend’s children. In their view the police are not more important than girlfriends. Never mind three Nissan Land Cruisers for their wives.

No wonder the officers deployed on the streets are always angry and cruel.

Commentators believe the bad mood by the police was driven by the lack of equipment rather than a mental disorder. The police are not even made aware of the risks from the virus.

Other officers in the region wear full PPE, comprising an FFP3 masks (which offer high levels of respiratory protection), visors, surgical gowns and two pairs of gloves each. But the Zimbabwean officers are given a button stick and an empty stomach.

There will be a high death rate for police first responders. If they don’t have the protective kit, this increases their risk of death.

What they are doing is not fit for purpose. There really needs to be a big effort to ensure that Protection for officers is made an absolute priority.

It is staggering how the police force is working without protection. Police dealing with the public some of which are with symptoms strongly suggestive of Covid-19 are walking around with no protection at all.

All police officers are under an enormous amount of pressure and face some increasingly difficult times ahead, so we need to look after them, so they can look after everyone else.

We stand a risk of losing the entire police force and their family members from this virus.

“Frontline clinicians, care staff and patients deserve clear guidance on face masks and for that to then be consistently followed.

If they make a difference in protecting clinicians and patients, and police officers there will be a risk of reinfection.

The police are left ill-equipped because Police chiefs had been caught by surprise by the virus’s emergence.

“There’s a massive gap between what police need and the availability of that and there is a threat to staff health.

The trouble is that the police never saw such a big and difficult a problem as coronavirus coming and the chiefs do not care for their subordinates. They only care for themselves.

The role of the police is to ensure that the right tools are available at the right time.

This virus knows no boundaries. It infects ministers President’s princes and any one. So a button stick and an old rifle is not a Corona virus protective ware. No amount of officers will stop the virus.
This is the time when we should be ashamed and save our police officers.

They need to be protected.
These people have families they have children. All of them are bread winners.
Save our police.

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