The National Police Service has never been short of rogue elements ever ready to abuse and misuse their powers.
They have provoked the fury of the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers because thuggish officers threaten the tranquil professional atmosphere in which health workers struggle to save lives.
The union went public after a Vihiga county stormed a hospital last Wednesday and confronted a medic while brandishing a pistol. He demanded a clinical report about his girlfriend, hospitalised after a domestic scuffle, be handed over.
He snatched and tore up the report that could have landed him in big trouble.
We are not opposed to officers carrying arms when and where necessary, including hospitals. But they should only be armed when guarding a patient or the facility.
Police should, before entering a hospital — unless they have a convict or suspect under guard — surrender their firearms and collect them on their way out.
Remember that in 2018 rogue officers wounded a mechanic in Eastleigh and when he was rushed to hospital, the police forced staff to hand him over. The mechanic was found dead the following morning.
Firearms are meant to enforce the law not to intimidate law-abiding professionals and to break the law.
