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Move to curb crime in Morogoro timely
2005-05-19 08:12:59
By Edit
Police in Morogoro have outlined a number of measures aimed at curbing violent crime in the region.
This is commendable, bearing in mind that hardly a week passes without Morogoro being in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Crime is now rampant in Morogoro to the extent that criminals have turned some areas into no-go zones.
Murders, robberies, carjackings and rape are now commonplace in Morogoro Municipality which just a few years ago used to be one of the safest towns in the country. The situation is serious and getting worse by the day.
The fact that Morogoro is on the verge of becoming uninhabitable because of spiralling crime was last week acknowledged by no lesser a person than the regional police commander himself.
“We have now reached a point where people are robbed in broad daylight. This is unacceptable and calls for drastic measures. Morogoro must not be allowed to degenerate into a haven where criminals operate with impunity,” Stephen Ngowi said.
He added that the police had stepped up patrols as part of efforts to curb violent crime in the municipality.
All major roads leading into and out of the municipality which were frequently used by criminals operating in the town and its environs would be patrolled round the clock, the RPC added.
The patrols will involve armed officers who will be in uniform and in plain clothes.
Ngowi said Msamvu, Bigwa, Junior Seminary, Kihonda, Modeco, Sokoine University of Agriculture and Mafiga areas would also be patrolled daily.
These measures are heartening, but the operation should not be limited to patrolling the municipality’s streets and areas where crime is rampant alone and should also entail the hunting down and prosecution of suspected criminals.
Steps being taken by the police will be deemed successful only if the perpetrators of violent crime in the region are brought to book and made to pay for their misdeeds.
This will have the double effect of taking criminals off the streets as well as acting as a deterrent to others.
We would like to remind the police force that these measures must be permanent if they are to be effective, and in the same breath call on the public to play their part in ridding Morogoro Region of crime.
We have time and again said that criminals live in our midst, and this means that the public have an important role to play if violent crime is to be banished from this country.
The police force has shown the way in Morogoro, and similar measures should be taken in other crime hotspots such as Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Mbeya and Tanga where criminals have been reigning supreme for a number of years now.
We want Tanzania to be what it used to be a number of years back – a country with a very low crime rate where people could go about their businesses without living in fear of marauding criminals.
It is a fact that peace-loving and law-abiding citizens in most urban areas in the country are now at the mercy of robbers, carjackers, rapists and other criminals. This must change sooner rather than later.
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