The Sunday News
Tinomuda Chakanyuka Sunday News Reporter—
THE police will introduce a new technology to digitally capture and store holders of driver licences’ biometrical data and allow authorities to, among other things, garnish offending drivers’ bank accounts for those evading paying traffic fines, Sunday News can reveal. National Police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba confirmed the development on Friday which will be part of the digitalisation programme that ZRP is implementing. She said the new technology will also make it easy for police to trace offending drivers and bring them to book.
Senior Asst Comm Charamba said the new technology would also allow police to issue the Form 265 tickets which will now be easily followed up in the event that offenders fail to pay. Form 265 requires the traffic offender to pay the imposed fine at their nearest police station within seven days, failure of which they will be prosecuted.
However, a number of motorists were not paying traffic fines after being issued with the Form 265 tickets and police faced challenges in making follow-ups due to their analogue record keeping system. At present police are issuing spot fines which were introduced as an alternative to the Form 265 as an administrative option for the convenience of both police and the motoring public.
Snr Asst Comm Charamba said a number of motorists’ details were not captured which made it easy for them to evade the punishment when they break the law and difficult for police to trace them. The technology can also be used to fish out fake driver’s licences.
“The technology will allow us to first capture and store all the necessary details of each motorists (everyone with a licence) that we need. This will help us identify traffic offenders and follow them up. If one is ticketed and does not pay then we can easily follow up using those details and bring them to book. This will also help us avoid situations where some motorists give false information to our officers manning roadblocks. With all these details we can also be able to see who the regular offenders are and appropriate legal action can be taken,” she said.
Asked on how the technology will allow police to debit bank accounts of offenders and whether the practice would not be a violation of rights, Snr Asst Comm Charamba said the option was still in idea phase which police were toying with as they are developing the new technology. She said consultations were underway to assess the legal implications of the option to debit motorists’ bank accounts.
“There I can’t really share much. A proper decision is yet to be made. We are still consulting to see what sort of legal implications such an option will have before we decide. At the moment it is just a proposal,” she said.
Legal expert Advocate Brian Dube said the option to garnish offending motorists’ bank accounts would not have any legal challenges but would increase efficiency in traffic policing. He said the option would also reduce alleged corruption on the road and increase convenience for traffic offenders.
“Garnishes have always been there. For purposes of efficiency I think that is the best option. It will also help curb corruption and police at roadblocks may no longer need to handle any cash. For the traffic offenders, the system will be convenient as no one will be detained at roadblocks for not having cash on them to pay fines,” he said.
Advocate Dube added: “The advantage of garnishes is that money will go straight into State coffers. If one is not satisfied with how their account was debited they can always approach the courts for recourse.”
Last year police clashed with legal experts over the legality of spot fines issued to traffic offenders.
High Court Judge, Justice Francis Bere, while officially opening the High Court circuit in Masvingo, said there was no legal framework empowering traffic police officers to demand spot fines.
However, police were unperturbed by Justice Bere’s legal opinion and said they would continue collecting spot fines for traffic and other criminal offences. Police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi said spot fines were approved by Cabinet.
