Inspector General of police Hillary Mutyambai has warned members of the public against attacking police officers.
Mutyambai while appearing on Citizen TV on Monday, said such attacks will not be entertained and perpetrators will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
The IG said it is unfortunate that the public has placed a blanket condemnation against the police for misgivings of a few officers.
Mutyambai was responding to a question on why the IG had transferred officers at the Lesos police station even after they shot three innocent Kenyans.
Mutyambai said the officers acted because they were trying to protect their property that had been set ablaze by protesters.
"This is not about police brutality but actions by individual officers. We have over 100,000 officers and thus you cannot say the entire service is brutal," he said.
Mutyambai said, "Police always take responsibility for their actions. When they use excessive force, we have oversight bodies that investigate and action taken against those found culpable".
He said the Lesos incident took a turn when members of the public took the law into their own hands and stormed in to the station.
He said officers were deployed on the ground and took three days to establish what had transpired.
"I can confirm that the subsequent events that followed the incident were excess. It was illegal for them to destroy property and the officers responded," he said.
He added, "When members of the public act in such a manner let it be known that police will not entertain it, they will not take it lightly".
The IG said there are procedures to make complaints against individual police officers.
He said he could not give a specific figure of how many police officers have been held responsible for brutality and killing.
"These officers are Kenyans like you and they have their own rights. Their cases must thus be treated with all the confidentiality it deserves," he aid.
