Addressing a political rally in Francistown, the legislator said in the 1990s crime was ravaging Zambia and the police were ordered to shoot to kill suspected criminals.
"We should emulate the Zambians. Their strategy has worked. After the order was issued, criminals were shot and killed and in the process crime was reduced dramatically," Masisi was quoted as saying.When contacted, Masisi confirmed his statement and wondered where criminals get the right to break into other people's houses. He suggested that if a police officer comes across a robbery or somebody committing a burglary, he should shoot the person. Masisi said this is his own proposal to the government. Masisi said he is only coming up with a suggestion but in Zambia they were practically doing it.He said the police should also be armed. Masisi said junior army officers are issued with guns. He wondered why junior police officers could not be armed as well. He added that recently a police officer was killed by a suspected criminal in Mmadinare because he was not armed. The Commissioner of Police, Thebeyame Tsimako, dismissed the statement that the police should shoot criminals on sight as irresponsible. "That would be against the law. The police are not supposed to go around shooting people indiscriminately. We can only shoot in exceptional circumstances," he said.Tsimako said the police have been trained not to shoot people indiscriminately. He said the duty of a police officer is primarily to prevent crime.Tsimako said there have been instances when the police returned fire after suspected criminals opened fire. Even in those instances, the aim is to shoot to disable in order to arrest.
