Police breaking the law

Last night on the KTN news, I watched three or so policeman harass innocent members of the public on the dark alley next to Standard Chartered Bank on Tom Mboya Street.
These male policeman forced a lady in the alley to lift up her skirts so that they could do a body search. Money which fell off her hand bag was quickly pocketed by the policemen.
To make it worse, they bundled her into an unmarked car and drove her to God knows where. God be with her.

That there are many policemen in this country who have gone bad is no mystery. A report issued the other day indicated that Nairobi residents are more likely to be shot dead by a policeman than by a criminal. http://allafrica.com/stories/200609180475.html.

The study conducted by former Chief Government Pathologist Kirasi Olumbe and Dr Ahmed Kalebi, the North Eastern provincial pathologist, observed that the victims are more likely to be shot in the streets of the city suburbs and estates. The study further established that while police were most likely to shoot a suspect many times, majority of the criminals shoot their victims only once. The study also noted that the trigger happy policemen will always shoot to kill on the head or chest. It further noted that police were most likely to shoot a suspect many times, whereas majority of the criminals shoot their victims only once.

This is contrary to the requirements section 28 of the Police Act Chapter 84 Laws of Kenya that allow a policeman to use a firearm ONLY where the officer has reasonable ground to believe that he or any other person is in danger of grievous bodily harm or that he cannot otherwise effect an arrest.

Such shootings have been known to occur at pro-democracy ralies, http://auto_sol.tao.ca/node/view/757,

Significantly, such shootings by police at innocent civilians have often occured when the victim was unarmed and harmless. http://www.timesnews.co.ke/07nov05/nwsstory/topstry.html
even where the innocent civilian is on the floor pleading for mercy. It even happened to a innocent Catholic priest. http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=14480

This alarming trend cannot be rectified where the Police bosses defend the above practice, such as Kingori Mwangi did by saying "majority of those gunned down were dangerous criminals who posed a serious threat to the public and the shooting officer."

The truth will always be that dead men tell no tales, which has worked many times in favour of the errant officer.

It has also been felt that the actions of the Police have a lot to do with the shoot to kill orders of Internal Security Minister John Michuki. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4374649.stm

It has long been said that Kenya needs to urgently establish a body independent of the police infrastracture, akin to the Independent Police Complaints Commission in England and Wales, that would receive complaints from members of the public on errant shootings, summon the policeman concerned, hold a minitrial, and pass judgment on the officer, resulting in imprisonment and fines.http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/

Unfortunately, our MPs are not making the right kind of noises in the right kind of places, especially since it doesn't add any beef on their sizeable platter.

Further, the breaches of human rights and the law by many of our policemen does not appear to be interesting to Maina Kiai, who seems to find corruption related issues more attractive, in spite of a lack of mandate in that general area.

Be that as it may, you need to know how to possibly avoid being shot by trigger happy policemen in our country. Free advice:

a) avoid poorly lit alleys and streets, such as those many alleys along Tom Mboya Street
b) avoid staying late on Fridays, rogue policemen will want to arrest you on Friday, as the bribes are said to be better so that you can avoid spending the weekend in the cells
c) do not dress suspiciously (presumed to be rastafarian outfits, all untidy and unkempt outfits)
d) do not drive suspicious cars (presumed to be very old rickety cars)
e) do not drive in a suspicious manner(presumed to be in a zig zag manner, or driving round and round a particular location)
f) always have the mobile number of a policeman (the senior the better) you can call on if necessary
g) avoid pubs and clubs in the Nairobi CBD if you are not driving home thereafter
h) always carry extra money on you, other than that which you have in your wallet or handbag
i) strong arguments with policemen , especially at secluded places at night, are to be avoided

Should you choose to ignore the above, then say a loud prayer, it may just save you!