CCTV cameras should be installed in all police stations in Lamu to stop the harassment of suspects in cells.
The call came from Muslim clerics and elders who said there was a lot of harassment in police stations yet the officers always deny that anything untoward happens.
They cited the reporting desk as where the most dehumanising treatment is meted out to even innocent people who go to report crime-related incidents.
Speaking in Lamu on Wednesday,
The chairperson of Coast Interfaith Council of Clerics (CICC) Mohamed Abdulkadir said yesterday that police are also notorious for hiding evidence or destroying or losing it.
Abdulkadir, who spoke in Lamu, said the CCTVs will "watch out" on misbehaving police officers.
He said many vices at police stations went unnoticed and unreported as the officers know that no one watches them harassing citizens.
“Many people have been harassed when they go to report matters to the police stations. We have cases where police will claim that evidence is lost when we know they have hidden it or even destroyed it. With CCTVs, all this will stop,” Abdulkadir said.
He said mysterious arrests and disappearances will stop as people will be able to follow up on their loved ones held by the police.
“We know these offices and but sometimes when they arrest people and you try to follow up, they deny and claim they have no idea where the person in question is; that’s how many youths have remained unaccounted for here.”
Lamu Council of Elders spokesperson Mohamed Mbwana said police are also notorious for tampering with OBs.
“We want to be able to see and know who tampers with OB numbers, who has been denying the people of Lamu the justice they deserve and who has been eating with the enemy. These cameras will go a long way in resolving that,” Mbwana said.
Meanwhile, county commissioner Joseph Kanyiri has assured the Muslim faithful of optimum security in the holy month of Ramadhan.
“We want our Muslim brothers and sisters to rest assured that we have elaborate security plans for them and for the entire region even after Ramadhan. We have deployed additional security forces in the county,” Kanyiri said.
