The brutality meted out on Mumias residents by Kenya Police Service officers searching for seven rifles stolen from a police post revealed the depth of the force’s fundamental problem with Kenyans: It lacks legitimacy.
Opinion polls on the service continuously depict an abysmal institution. Daily, police are accused, and correctly so, of use of lethal force. Extrajudicial killings of suspects are reported up and down the country.
We have to ‘decolonise’ the Kenya Police. Fair, equitable, and community centered policing is fundamental to a constitutional democratic society. Yet, this remains a promise unrealised.
The police cannot do their work effectively without the trust and confidence of the communities they serve. The legitimacy of the entire criminal justice system is questioned. The problem is urgent and compelling.
There is limited evidence to show the police force has fundamentally changed, despite very good constitutional safeguards. It is the legitimate expectation of every Kenyan to see crime intelligence-led professional policing, a people-friendly service driven by an ethos of community centered and problem-solving policing.
The Kenya Police Force has not graduated into a service and remains publicly unaccountable, not subject to the rule of law, disrespectful of human dignity and grossly infringes on the basic rights and freedoms of the people of Kenya. It is an agency of state repression, not democratic policing and law enforcement, despite the few changes in the hiring and establishment of a weak civilian management and oversight agencies.
The functional autonomy and operational independence of the police force are unconstitutionally highly compromised by political and civil service bureaucracy interference. The police force lacks financial independence.
Despite the Constitution, the National Police Service Act and operational manuals, there is clear inequality inherent in the policing and law enforcement system. Different segments of Kenyan society are treated differently. There is no standardised, professionally established set of procedures and policies that apply equally to all Kenyans regardless of status and locality.
Policing varies significantly, depending on who is involved. Police work involving affluent neighborhoods or persons is characterised by “soft” policing strategies. Policing here concentrates on making people feel secure rather than actual crime fighting. In poor neighbourhoods and among disadvantaged groups, policing is violent and intense.
The quality and nature of the police leadership and resources available severely affect policing. The Nairobi-based police chiefs and the county commanders represent a critical source of influence. They provide the policing doctrine by deciding whether the force invests in prevention or repression of crime. Mostly, the practice adopted does not address itself to prevailing circumstance and public expectations.
The Judiciary has developed a very systematic, transparent and accountable procedure of allocating resources. This is hardly the case in the police. Further, police departments that are financially crippled are simply not able to provide regular training and therefore do not have the expertise to pursue certain kinds of crime.
The Kenya Police apply very limited predictive policing. This model helps law enforcement mobilise their resources in places where crime tends to concentrate. Another noticeable problem is the “militarisation” of police. The force began to acquire military calibre equipment and implement militarised training with little or no accountability.
The force is highly influenced by political pressure, starting with the nomination of the chief of police and the warped laws that officers must enforce.
The police themselves have created a risk crime factor for the public by using bad manners and methods. The less respectful police are towards suspects and citizens, the less people will comply with the law.
Making both the style and substance of police practices more legitimate in the eyes of the public is one of the most effective long-term strategies for crime prevention. Police leadership, procedures of policing and law enforcement and the force’s organisational structure have to undergo massive overhaul for the Kenya Police Service to change and gain public legitimacy.
- The writer is Executive Director, International Centre for Policy and Conflict, [email protected]