Number of police with mental illness worries bosses
A third of police officers in the country are heavy drinkers, it has emerged.
A large number of officers across all ranks are also servicing loans which leave them with less than a third of their monthly salary, forcing them to resort to corrupt practices to make ends meet.
“It has come to the attention of the Inspector General National Police Service that many police officers have committed their monthly salaries to below a third of their basic salary, contrary to the Government regulations,” states an internal memo from the National Police Service.
The memo states that the habit of taking huge loans had compromised the integrity of police officers who are tempted to indulge in corruption to fill financial gaps.
The revelations emerged during a high level meeting which brought together the Inspector General Hillary Mutyambai and the 47 county police commanders to discuss mental health problems in the service.
Speaking at the function, Mutyambai cautioned officers against taking loans which they cannot service, leading to serious cases of pecuniary embarrassment.
The memo seen by People Daily further revealed that stern action would be taken against officers with integrity issues including denying them promotions, removal from the service and retirement in public interest.
Yesterday’s meeting was called to discuss the mental health crisis in the service.
The senior officers were taken through a mental health awareness and sensitisation programme and given tips on how to identify an officer who is facing challenges and the best way to help them.
Speaking during the function, Deputy Inspector General of Police Edward Mbugua said the main aim of the programme was to curb the ever-increasing homicides and suicides among officers reported in recent months.
“The officers go through trauma and this leads them into abuse of drugs and alcohol. For this reason, we decided to engage the police bosses who should be alert and, in a position, to assist those who need help,” said Mbugua.
Dr Frank Njenga, who is the National Chairman of the Mental Health Taskforce committee, said officers have for a very long time suffered from condemnation by civilians.
Societal stigma
“Officers have for a very long time suffered in the hands of members of society; they are blamed daily on everything that goes wrong within society. It is time we start treating them as our brothers, sisters, uncles, sons and daughters,” he said.
Njenga said the partnership between the taskforce and the police service had identified eight thematic areas to focus on.
They include mental health and wellbeing, burden of mental illness, mental health in special population, social determinants of mental health, stigma and discrimination, policy and legislative framework, leadership and governance and mental health services and systems.
He said the taskforce had come up with an action plan that would see the cases reduced in the next four years.
The country has recently witnessed an upsurge in the number of deaths linked to police officers. This week alone, over eight police officers have engaged in shootings.
During the interaction, Kisii County Commander Francis Kooli said some of the reasons that contribute to mental problems among officers can be controlled.
Kooli said that he had on several occasions received complaints from police officers after an encounter with politicians.
“They have always accused the officers of being corrupt forgetting that the officers have always gone out of their way to protect them.
We should start by ensuring that the public gets a positive picture about the service,” Kooli said.
He also raised concern over a number of police officers who have worked in hardship areas ever since they had been recruited into the service saying that they were suffering in silence.
According to him, he once worked in Wajir County and he was forced to ask eight officers both female and male from Nairobi to travel to the North Eastern County and engage with their colleagues and the outcome was really amazing.
“The officers based in Wajir opened up to their colleagues and told them that they were very lucky to be working in areas that do not have any hardship conditions. They also opened up saying that they were missing their families,” he said.
It has emerged that a number of police officers have been holed up in the vast North Eastern region for over eight months. Some of the officers have witnessed more than six terror attacks in the last one decade.
People Daily has established that the officers are only transferred from one station to another but within the region which is against the National Police Service Orders on matters transfer.
