POLICE, DPP TO PROBE SHOOTING OF SUSPECTS

MBABANE – The police and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) are investigating incidents where police officers have shot suspects.

This was said by the National Commissioner of Police, Isaac Magagula, yesterday at the Police Headquarters. Magagula said they were carrying out investigations to ascertain whether the officers acted within the parameters of the law.

“Accordingly, we are working hand-in-hand with the office of the DPP carrying out investigations in all the incidents aimed at ascertaining whether the officers acted within the parameters of the law,” he said.
Since December, police have shot and killed six suspects in different incidents in the country. The latest case is that of a passenger who was shot dead by a plain clothes police officer in a bus which was from Siteki.

 On December 12, police shot and killed two suspects in the Built It heist which occurred last year. In January, the police shot and killed one suspect in a dramatic car chase with theft suspects at Ngogola. Also in the same month, two suspects, who were wanted for a string of robberies, were shot and killed by the police.

Magagula lamented the spate of such incidents and said it was of great concern that they had occurred in a sequential manner. He said in an ideal operational scenario, shooting of suspects would be the last resort after all efforts to subdue and apprehend had failed.

“Suffice that, we have pointed out so many times before and we still do, that the culture of trigger happiness on the police cannot be condoned or allowed to prevail unabated as this was against tenets of professionalism,” he said.

Magagula appealed to the public to refrain from conduct that had the propensity of exposing one to trouble and invited the wrath of the law.  He said there was an age old siSwati idiom which said ‘live liyengcayelwa’ which said a lot about conducting oneself in accordance with the norms and moral code of society.

Magagula also condemned the manner in which some officers behaved on the road and said they were not above the law and were expected to set the right example.
He also condemned incidents where police vehicles, on official errands, were attacked and damaged by the public.

“Such stunts are not only illegal, but they have elements of barbarism and not consistent with what is expected in a civilised society. The vehicle that was smashed is part of the new fleet that has been allocated to the police service to ameliorate the problem of shortage of transport which was eliciting a strident hue and cry from the public. We are dismayed when these vehicles are now vandalised,” he said.

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