Azimio MP now advices Interior CS KITHURE KINDIKI to emulate Tanzanian police strategies as criminals run amok in the city

 

Thursday, November 17, 2022 – Azimio legislator has advised President William Ruto’s government to go the Tanzanian way in dealing with criminals.

In a statement, Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan encouraged the National Police Service (NPS) to borrow a leaf from Tanzania’s strategies that advocate against the use of lethal force but actively involve the citizens in community policing.

He explained that Tanzanian officers largely use intelligence from citizens to arrest criminals, contrary to the scare tactics and forceful patterns employed by their Kenyan counterparts.

He urged Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kithure Kindiki to employ citizen-friendly policing methods to curb the rising crime rate. 

Further expounding on the ideologies, MP Hassan argued that the Tanzanian police force partnered with the community, which plays the watchdog role and acts as the eyes and ears of the police.

“Most informal settlement dwellers in Kenyan urban areas who might help divulge intelligence that might assist in reprimanding criminals and bringing them to justice have a strained relationship with enforcement officers,” he advocated.

He condemned the strategy, philosophy and methodology applied in the Kenyan policing system underlining that they can never be used to address rising crime rates permanently.

Hassan further opined that Kenya’s servicemen are accustomed to brutality whenever there is an upsurge in crime, to the extent of discouraging citizens from relating cordially with police due to alienation and fear.

Police were as well prone to imposing excessive force, leading to extra-judicial killings, according to the lawmaker and activist. 

The MP’s plight precedes President William Ruto’s order to deploy officers from GSU and the Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) to handle the spiking cases of insecurity in Nairobi.