Weed out rogue police officers from service
In the recent past, Kenyans have been treated to reports of police officers involved in criminal activities, prompting animated debate among members of the public.
Understandably, Kenyans fail to understand why the men and women mandated to protect them and their property are the very ones to turn against them.
After this newspaper highlighted the issue a few days ago, Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai convened a crisis meeting with senior officers earlier this week.
Consequently, it was decided that officers with criminal and disciplinary cases be monitored more closely, and those who have overstayed in Nairobi be moved.
Further, all officers will have to wear a uniform even when attending court proceedings. Civilian apparel remains a preserve of officers attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
All police officers are also expected to immediately return firearms to armoury once done with their duty shifts. Failure to return such firearms has provided a grey area used by officers with sinister motives to access firearms.
Pointedly, the meeting also decided that AP officers undergo induction and investigation courses at Kenya Police College, Kiganjo, along with others from KPS.
This follows the recent integration of APs into the regular police unit, a move that poses a new challenge to the former investigative work.
But just hours after the Mutyambai meeting, Constable Simon Mwaniki of Kayole Police Station was linked to the Sh6 million Eastleigh heist and three other officers in Machakos arrested. This brings to about 55 the number of officers linked to crime in the past month.
This comes in the wake of a chilling confession by a police informer of how three AP officers reportedly kidnapped and killed lawyer Willie Kimani, his client and a taxi driver in 2016.
Supervision by senior officers must be enhanced so that the integrity of the police chain of command retains some element of effectiveness to rein in errant officers.
This is not to mean there are no good officers, but the bad elements soil the general image of the service. The police service must purpose to regain public trust and reclaim its image. Kenyans cannot be at the mercy of armed and dangerous rogue officers.
