•In addition, the image of the police once more has suffered big time, and not that they deserve the suffering, but purely misuse by the command structure.
•It’s wrong for police officers to be misused and exposed to danger, on something not yet considered national security.
Image: SCREEN GRAB
Many police officers have been injured, survived death and are highly traumatized, following their deployment at the onset of the protests in Kenya.
In addition, the image of the police once more has suffered big time, and not that they deserve the suffering, but purely misuse by the command structure.
It’s wrong for police officers to be misused and exposed to danger, on something not yet considered national security.
In this era of individual responsibility and accountability, in addition to exposure to risks, police officers face the law, either after leaving the office or when still in service.
Things have changed and police need not harass journalists in a conflict that is not theirs.
The worst happened when they openly directed their focus and energy on the media during the protests when the protagonists in the process are the political class.
While police and media tensions are global and based on historical reasons including journalists being embedded with the military during the USA/Vietnam war, and in the process some journalists taking up police positions, and many times releasing photos (power of the camera) of operations, which annoyed security officers, the events in Kenya did not deserve that level of brutality against the media even, if instructions were given.
The journalists were deployed to work and are innocent messengers, while the officers, even as they face their challenges had been deployed by their seniors to contain the crowds during the demonstrations.
This misuse of the police command structure greatly exposed the officers to near death and injuries, happening when the Inspector General of the police was given operational and financial independence and as the Justice David Maraga Committee on police and Prison reforms are underway.
Scholars have noted that the historically rocky relationship between the media and police is purely because of preconceptions that each may hurt the other and lack of trust, police hold the information even for the public good, while police fear that journalists may times release factual photos of events, especially involving the violation of human rights that leads to public outcry. Police rarely believe that journalists can represent a true picture of events.
More importantly, police rarely won't lose control of situations so become aggressive and hostile to others especially journalists.
Both police and media have preconceptions about each other based on the history of rumours.
Areas that are problematic between media and police relations include inadequate liaison, respect for each other’s job, courtesy-Somali operations-briefing and inclusion and power of the camera to influence events and public opinion.
Police can help bridge the relationship gap by being more open to the media-They can exploit this opportunity with the media to disseminate crime concerns
The current onslaught on journalists calls for an urgent awakening amongst journalists to re-evaluate and improve media professionalism and accountability within the industry and above all, improve the working environment for media practitioners in the country.
The media must work towards creating solidarity and a common agenda for the media fraternity in the country to not only reduce the divisions in the sector but ensure that media issues are part of the national agenda and a conducive environment is created for the media to play its role in national development unhindered.
Article 244 of the Constitution sets out the standards by which the reformed National Police Service should work.
The Justice Waki report recommended a complete audit of the current police management, its structures, policies, practices and procedures and an examination of the structures, including the Senior Executive; thorough examination, review and revision of all tactics, weapons and ‘use of force’ employed by the police as well as a complete revision of the Police Act and application of a National Security Policy.
It’s important that we focus on reviewing the training manuals used for training officers, redeployment and retraining of officers on modern policing techniques, serious fundraising to equip the service, the putting up of the national forensic laboratory and recruitment of professional cadres of people into the force. We need a culture change in the police service that allows for officers who made decisions on behalf of others to be held responsible.
Police and the media can co-exist while serving two similar yet so different tasks-key is to develop a strong relationship prior to the critical incident.
Both sides have to be educated on the policies of their counterpart-Most importantly, both sides have to respect those policies