15 It is apparent that sufficient evidence exists to raise concerns about the militias and rape in all the categories described above, and, given the enormous problems in documenting rape and in women being able to make reports about rape, this becomes one of the most urgent areas for a commission of inquiryxxvi. 9. The involvement of the Police The involvement of the Zimbabwe Republic Police has been another crucial component of the strategy. From the very beginnings of the crisis in February 2000, it was evident that the role of the police was critical. By acting proactively within the terms of the Police Act and the Constitution, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) in a position to easily curb public violence and control violent groups. However, it is abundantly clear from all the evidence that the ZRP have shown a distressing tendency to inaction and even partisan action. The various reports of the Human Rights Forum document very well the movement of the ZRP in recent years to active involvement in the organised violence and torture itself xxvii. As the Forum commented in 2001: In this respect, we reiterate our concern over the failure by the government to ensure that the police carry out their duties in terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the Police Act. During the year, the failure by the police to provide protection to victims of gross human rights violations was a continuing cause for concern. Partisan policing must end and all Zimbabweans must be afforded the equal protection of the law. However, despite these reports chronicling well the spiraling down of the ZRP into a wholly partisan force, they do not show clearly the linkages the linkages between the role of the police and the militia. However, some reports have examined the linkages, and, in particular, the recent report of the Human Rights Forum shows strong evidence for the involvement of the police and other security agencies in the commission of gross human rights violations xxviii. As this report shows, the police are the State agents most frequently reported as being responsible for gross human-rights violations, and, as can be seen in Table 3 earlier, the ZRP are the third most common category of perpetrator previously identified by human rights organisations during the Presidential Election in 2002. If the breakdown is done for the police alone, it becomes clear, as Table 11 shows, that the uniformed branch of the ZRP is reported as massively the major perpetrator, with other branches implicated to a lesser extent. This is a considerable change from previous years, where, in 1998 to 2000, the CIO, PISI, the Riot Squad and the Support Unit were alleged to be the most common offenders and the uniformed branch tended not be reported as being involved in gross human rights violations. This picture does accord with the public domain reports of transfers of professionally-minded uniformed officers and the reports of “war veterans” and CIO officers being placed in positions of authority. Table 11. Perpetrators according to branch of ZRP. Branch of the ZRP Uniformed branch CID Riot Squad Support Unit PISI Percentage 61% 14% 12% 12% 1% As will be seen from Appendix 2, which is a consolidation of all the published information on police involvement in gross human rights violations, there is a very high proportion of senior officers identified by the victims. In fact, of the 152 names given by victims, the ranks could be established for 39% of the police and CIO officers named, and, as can be seen in Table 12 (see over), slightly less than 70% of these ranks are officials with a degree of executive power. It seems implausible that these officers were acting on their own initiative, and, given the serious The Perpetrators of Gross Human Rights Violations in the current violence in Zimbabwe.