Police Force bids former IGP Sirro farewell
Tanzania police bids farewell to former IGP Simon Sirro a year after his departure.
What you need to know:
- Sirro departs the Police Force after 30 years of service in the force he joined in 1993.
- He was the 10th Inspector General of Police.
Dar es Salaam. The Tanzania Police Force today bid farewell to former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Simon Sirro, nearly a year after his departure from the force.
Sirro departs the Police Force after 30 years of service in the force he joined in 1993.
He was the 10th Inspector General of Police, a post he held for five years between 2017 and 2022 when he was appointed as Tanzania’s High Commissioner to Zimbabwe.
The farewell ceremony was led by current IGP Camillius Wambura at the Dar es Salaam Police Academy (DPA) in Kurasini.
At the function, Sirro inspected the guard of honour, marking the final journey.
Former IGP Simon Sirro inspects the guard of honou.
After the police arrangements were completed, IGP Wambura presented Sirro with the force's retirement card, which now identifies him as an ordinary citizen.
Receiving the card, Sirro showed it to the journalists, saying, "I have been given this card to retire from the police force. I am now a citizen who depends on getting services from this force."
Also, Sirro was handed a car as a gift for retiring from the police force.
IGP Simon Wambura presents outgoing police chief Simon Sirro with the force's retirement card.
Speaking of challenges that he faced when he took over the helm of the force, Sirro mentioned the killings of albino, armed robbery, brutal killings in Kibiti, and juvenile criminals famously known as 'Panya Road' that emerged in Dar es Salaam.
"I was passing through Dar es Salaam streets yesterday and saw some shops were open until morning, back in the day, it wouldn’t have been possible. I was the Regional Police Commander of Dar es Salaam, so I know how bad the situation was then," he said.
Sirro said that with cooperation from other security organs, the situation was controlled and normalcy was restored.
Sirro, 60, emerged from a lower ranking in the police officer to the highest, including Commander of Dar es Salaam Special Zone.
Before that, Sirro served as the chief of special operations in the police force, and he led many operations, one of which was "Operation Kimbunga" which was against illegal immigrants in 2012.
Also, Sirro different times served as regional police commander for Tanga, Mwanza, and Shinyanga.
