Police Support Unit

The Police Support Unit had its origins in 1898 when 150 Ngoni tribesmen were recruited by the British South Africa Company as auxiliary native police to the British South Africa Police in Company-ruled Rhodesia. For most of their existence, they were mostly relegated to ceremonial duties, leading to them being given the derogatory nickname of the "Chocolate Soldiers" by the white policemen. It was suggested in 1963 by the British South Africa Police (BSAP) commissioner following the breakup of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland that the Police Support Unit should be expanded to take on the role of the Rhodesian Army in Southern Rhodesia. But this suggestion was rejected by the Southern Rhodesian government.{{cite book |first=Ronald |last=Reid-Daly |authorlink=Ronald Reid-Daly |title=Pamwe Chete: The Legend of the Selous Scouts |page=299 |publisher=Corvos-Day Books |year=2002 |isbn=9781919874333 }} However, when the Rhodesian Bush War started, the Support Unit took on a more active anti-terrorist role.{{cite book |first=Paul |last=Moorcraft |title=Contact II |page=135 |year=1981 |publisher=Sygma |isbn=9780868760063}}

The Police Support Unit became known as the Black Boots for the boots they wore in contrast to the brown boots the rest of the BSAP wore.{{cite book |first=Robb |last=Ellis |title=Without Honour |page=21 |publisher=Creative Commons |year=2006 |isbn=9781434829948}}{{cite book |first=David |last=Lemon |title=Never Quite a Soldier |page=66 |publisher=Albida |year=2000 |isbn=9781902320229}}{{cite book |first=Ivan |last=Smith |title=Bush Pig - District Cop: Service with the British South Africa Police in the Rhodesian Conflict 1965-79 |page=44 |publisher=Helion and Company |year=2014 |isbn=9781909982291}} During the first few years of the Bush War, the active Black Boots operations were manned by mercenary soldiers, predominantly white mercenaries from the Congo Crisis.{{Cite book |first=Robert |last=Brown |title=I Am Soldier of Fortune |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N5vUAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22BSAP+support+unit%22&pg=PT98 |publisher=Casemate Publishing |year=2013 |isbn=9781612001944}} However, the unit's operations would eventually evolve to include native black police officers who received military training in addition to their regular police training.{{cite web|url=https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVAADXB9HSTQYIS25ZULBZZ3O65K-RHODESIA-POLICE-RECEIVE-TRAINING-IN-GUERRILLA-WARFARE-AS-PART-OF/query/%22police+support+unit%22+rhodesia |title=Rhodesia: Police Receive Training In Guerrilla Warfare As Part Of Increased Recruitment For Country's Security Forces. |publisher=British Pathé |date= |accessdate=2021-07-08}} By the late 1970s, the unit was majority black with most being veterans of the Malayan Emergency.{{cite book |first= |title=Zambezia |publisher=University of Rhodesia |page=180 |volume=7–8 |year=1978 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gU0KAQAAIAAJ&q=%22police+support+unit%22+black++rhodesia}}{{cite book |first=Al |last=Venter |title=The Zambesi Salient |page=128 |publisher=Hale |year=1975 |isbn=9780709148425 }} The white commanders in the unit were hand-selected from the regular Duty Uniform Branch of the BSAP.{{cite web|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA238998.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709183437/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA238998.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=July 9, 2021 |title=Lessons for Contemporary Counterinsurgencies: The Rhodesian experience |publisher=RAND |date= |accessdate=2021-07-08}} Foreign volunteers, mostly American veterans of the Vietnam War, would also be admitted to the unit providing they passed security clearance.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/98538217/?terms=%22Support%20unit%22%20rhodesia&match=1 |title=Ex-GIs fighting for Rhodesia |work=Detroit Free Press |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription |date=1977-04-08 |accessdate=2021-07-08}}

The Black Boots were highly regarded due to their high levels of military training and behaved more like an army unit than part of the police force. They became known as the BSAP's "mailed fist" because they operated similarly to the Selous Scouts and trained at the Rhodesian School of Infantry.{{cite book |title=Focus on Political Repression in Southern Africa |issue=13 |page=10 |publisher=International Defence & Aid Fund |year=1977 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ngwQAQAAMAAJ&q=+%22support+unit%22}} Black policemen were attracted to join the Black Boots because of the improved pay and living conditions as well as being able to access a higher standard of education.{{cite book |first=Ian |last=Beckett |title=Counter Insurgency: Lessons from History |page=174 |publisher=Pen and Sword Publishing |year=2011 |isbn=9781848843967}}

The Black Boots would gain a tough reputation in the latter years of the Bush War with the Rhodesian Sunday Mail accusing them of being "terr hungry" for their apparent enjoyment of killing suspected terrorists.{{Cite book |first=David |last=Caute |page=191 |title=Under the Skin: The Death of White Rhodesia |publisher=Northwestern University Press |year=1983 |isbn=9780810106581}} They were accused of being responsible for the killing of 50 black civilians in 1978 which the Rhodesian government had claimed was targeting guerrillas.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/224080159/?terms=%22black%20boots%22%20zimbabwe%20police%20%22support%20unit%22&match=1 |title=Rhodesia contradicted on killings |work=The Baltimore Sun |url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com |date=1978-05-18 |accessdate=2021-07-08}}

Following the establishment of Zimbabwe, the BSAP were disbanded and refounded as the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Police Support Unit was retained.{{cite web|url=https://www.dnw.co.uk/auction-archive/special-collections/lot.php?specialcollection_id=54&lot_uid=187100 |title=Lot 573, 16 September 2010 |publisher=DNW |date=2010-09-16 |accessdate=2021-07-08}} They were the only paramilitary section of the former BSAP that were retained under the new police force.{{cite book |pages=281–282 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7rwtx15jZaQC&q=zimbabwe+police+support+unit&pg=PA281 |title=Zimbabwe, a country study |publisher=United States Department of the Army |year=1983 |first=Harold |last=Nelson |isbn=9780160015984}} Under Zimbabwean control, they were integrated with the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and were initially used to target Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) guerrillas in 1980.{{cite book |first=Norma |last=Kriger |title=Guerrilla Veterans in Post-war Zimbabwe: Symbolic and Violent Politics, 1980–1987 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2003 |isbn=9781139438384 |page=78}} Until 1982 they were mostly based in Salisbury (later renamed Harare in 1982). From 1982, they started being used on border patrols looking for South African smugglers. In the mid 1980s, the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe announced that he would be integrating Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) guerrillas who fought in the Bush War with the Black Boots over concerns by the police that it would dilute the quality of the force.

They were used as an external military force in the Second Congo War when they were deployed to fight against the Rwandan-backed rebels.{{cite book |first=Douglas |last=Rogers |title=Two Weeks in November |year=2019 |publisher=Short Books |isbn= 9781780723693 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sQDuDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22police+support+unit%22+%22black+boots%22+zimbabwe&pg=PT40}} The Black Boots were also accused of taking part in extrajudicial political intimidation campaigns alongside members of the ruling ZANU-PF to attack supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/426414873/?terms=%22support%20unit%22%20police%20zimbabwe&match=1 |title=Thugs wage revenge campaign |work=The Gazette |url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com |date=2008-07-03 |accessdate=2021-07-08}} This also included the alleged use of corporal punishment and electric shock torture.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/476778116/?terms=%22black%20boots%22%20police%20zimbabwe&match=1 |title=Mugabe steps up torture of opponents |work=Edmonton Journal |url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com |date=2007-12-02 |accessdate=2021-07-08}} In 2016, it was reported members of the unit had been ambushed by RENAMO rebels whilst on patrol of the border with Mozambique, where three members of the Black Boots were abducted and had their weapons and identity papers stolen.{{cite web|last=Flowers |first=Jane |url=https://uk.blastingnews.com/world/2016/07/zimbabwe-police-para-military-support-unit-targeted-by-mozambique-rebels-00998245.html |title=Zimbabwe Police Para-military Support Unit targeted by Mozambique rebels |publisher=Blasting News |date=2016-07-04 |accessdate=2021-07-08}} During the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'etat, the Zimbabwe National Army seized control of the PSU's depot in Harare and disarmed all police officers during the coup.{{cite news|url=https://ewn.co.za/2017/11/15/report-zim-army-disarms-paramilitary-police-unit-in-harare |title=Report: Zim army disarms paramilitary police unit in Harare |publisher=Eyewitness News |date=2017-11-15 |accessdate=2021-07-08}} In 2021, the Black Boots were involved in a court case involving them trying to evict a man from his farm because they wanted the eastern part that he held.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newsday.co.zw/2021/02/zrp-support-unit-embroiled-in-farm-dispute/|title = ZRP Support Unit embroiled in farm dispute |publisher=Newsday |date =2021-02-15 |accessdate=2021-07-08}}

Since 1991, the Black Boots have competed as a volleyball team.{{Cite news |url=https://www.pressreader.com/zimbabwe/the-herald-zimbabwe/20161209/281814283492797 |title=Police team Namibia bound |newspaper=The Herald (Zimbabwe) |via=Pressreader |accessdate=2021-07-08}} In 2017, the Support Unit team won the Confederation of African Volleyball Zone VI Championship.{{cite news |date=2017-12-18 |url=https://www.pressreader.com/zimbabwe/chronicle-zimbabwe/20171218/281814284220634 |title=Support Unit crowned champions |newspaper=The Chronicle (Zimbabwe) |via=Pressreader |accessdate=2021-07-08}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Rhodesian Security Forces of the Bush War}}

Category:Non-military counterinsurgency organizations

Category:Paramilitary police

Category:Law enforcement agencies of Zimbabwe

Category:Law enforcement in Rhodesia

Category:1898 establishments in Africa

Category:Rhodesian Bush War