CENTRAL Province Permanent Secretary Anne Siyangwe has stressed the need for proper working conditions for police officers to enable them effectively prevent and fight crime.

Ms Sinyangwe said it was important that the officers operated under favourable conditions for them to be effective and efficient.

She was speaking on Friday when she paid a courtesy call on new Central Province police chief Standwell Lungu who has taken over from Joyce Kasosa.

Ms Sinyangwe said challenges that civil servants faced were overwhelming but called on the officers not to relent as they carried out their mandate to protect and maintain order in society.

She explained that the Patriotic Front Government (PF) was aware of the challenges that the officers faced and had embarked on a number of programmes that would help in addressing issues like establishing more police stations in the districts.

"The Government is not blind to the fact that a proper and conducive environment motivates a worker and is addressing the challenges you are facing in order to ensure an effective police service," Ms Sinyangwe said.

And Ms Kasosa said the major challenges in Central Province were inadequate accommodation for officers and limited human resource in most districts in the province.

She said it had been difficult to carry out crime prevention measures by the service.