We can conclude that 2018 has been a year of police beatings or in other words brutality against the men in uniform. There was this video when a naughty teacher from Kericho decided to clobber an officer with what looked like a Mpini.
But the most dramatic video of the year went to that Tuk Tuk guy from Nakuru who decided that enough is enough and taught two policemen a lesson they will never forget any time soon. Unfortunately for them, Kenyans will also not forget.
But it seems Kenyans are not done with the vice as it has emerged that police are looking for a matatu crew that assaulted an officer in a scuffle along Mbagathi Road in Nairobi. The crew escaped and abandoned the matatu at the Highridge bus stop after the incident.
Police say a hunt for the suspects in the Sunday incident is ongoing. It is not clear what prompted the scuffle. Police say they are still investigating.Nairobi police boss Joseph ole Tito said the injured officer was treated at an unnamed hospital and later discharged.
He cautioned against attack on any police officers. He urged the public to always report complaint(s) against officers to either Internal Affairs Unit or Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA). A similar incident was reported in Nakuru last month. IPOA has since condemned attacks on police officers who on duty.
The authority said “these criminal actions” interrupt the dispensation of security services and inconvenience law abiding Kenyans.
“IPOA has clear mechanisms and structures for receiving and investigating public and police complaints with the goal of professionalizing the police service,” said the authority’s spokesman Denis Oketch.
Mr Oketch said the authority had been vocal in castigating the police for unprofessional conduct and successfully recommended prosecution of errant police officers, some who had been charged in court. IPOA said in a statement that it defeated the purpose of police reforms when the public turned and committed the same offences they complained about if committed by police officers.