There have been regular reports that the Police Force has been purged of police officers considered to be sympathetic to the opposition or who have continued to carry out their duties without political bias, and that police officers who have tried to enforce the law on a non-partisan basis have been transferred or demoted. Other officers about whom the Commissioner is distrustful are alleged to have been transferred into a “Commissioner’s pool” where they can be kept under surveillance. A number of senior officers have left the force, expressing concern over the political abuse of the police force.22 To justify his purge of senior officers, Commissioner Chihuri alleged that there were reactionary elements in the force, remnants of the Rhodesian Selous Scouts and the British South Africa Police (BSAP).23 In July 2001, he told a Governmentcontrolled newspaper that police officers thought to support opposition political parties would be sacked. An undisclosed number of officers were dismissed on these grounds.24 “War veterans” in the Police Force have received rapid promotion, and more were recruited into the force.25 A number of them have been placed in effective charge of rural police stations. Allegations have been made that some of these officers have not only refused to assist MDC supporters under attack from ZANU (PF) supporters, but in some instances have actually participated in these attacks. In March 2006, it was reported that the government had ordered that veterans of the country's liberation war should be promoted to positions of control in the Police Force, and that young officers who did not fight in the 1970s war were to undergo lessons in patriotism and how to smother civil unrest. It is alleged in this article that junior officers from all around the country were being made to attend lessons in patriotism at a depot in Harare. It was alleged that at these lessons senior officers threatened the other officers with dismissal if they sympathised with the MDC. The article also contended that the Commissioner of Police had instructed commanders to submit to him names of all ex-combatants at the stations together with details of their "behaviour and sense of patriotism" for purposes of promotion. Finally, in the article, Home the perpetrators of these crimes. These utterances were reported in the state controlled Herald newspaper on 31 August 2002. 22 Financial Gazette 4 June 2001. 23 Sunday Mail 7 June 2001. Herald 11 July 2001. Amnesty International researchers interviewed one former police officer on 30 November 2001 who described his experience: “I had twenty years of service, but I was fired because I was accused of supporting the MDC… I liked my job, I was loyal, I was proud to be a policeman to serve my nation, and now it hurts me to see the police officers are working for a political party, not the nation… The police are frightened of the war veterans, they have their own command structure, and if you arrest them, they will get them out of jail. If one is an ex-combatant, one can be promoted to take your position. Only ex-combatants are promoted. We’re at the worst stage now, when everyone is doing what he wants.” 25 In March 2001 it was reported that more than 300 war veterans were promoted some of whom were said to be illiterate.Daily News 20 March 2001. See also Financial Gazette 14 June 2002. 24 Who guards the guards? Violations by the Zimbabwe Republic Police, 2000 to 2006