Opinion: Shoot-to-kill order not best way to stop crime

The following day three suspects were shot at Parklands in Nairobi. According to the police, they recovered a car, a pistol and eight rounds of ammunition.PHOTO:COURTESY

In this month alone, the police have gunned down more than 11 suspected criminals.

On February 14, four men were shot dead in Kayole, Nairobi, on suspicion of having robbed and tortured a motorist.

The following day three suspects were shot at Parklands in Nairobi. According to the police, they recovered a car, a pistol and eight rounds of ammunition.

Then on February 21, policemen killed five people in separate incidents in Nairobi. There is no point belabouring rising incidence of crime in urban areas, but we draw a line at the drastic measures the police take in handling some situations.

Granted, the work of a policeman is difficult and fraught with danger, but that does not give them carte blanche to kill people and tag them criminals. Adage has it that dead men tell no tales.

We cannot therefore get the story from the dead person’s side. This is why sometimes police reports following killings should be taken with a pinch of salt.
It is the duty of law enforcers to arrest, disarm or disable suspected criminals and hand them over to the justice system.

In extreme cases, and only when the life of the arresting officer is in real danger, an officer can shoot back in self-defence, yet in the afore-stated incidents, no fire was levelled at the police officers.

As such, it is easy to say these killings were unnecessary and that the police, who should be acting on intelligence from field officers or from closed circuit television cameras strategically placed across the city, overreacted.

The right to life cuts across the board and like any other Kenyan, those considered criminals have a right to life and unless their guilt is established before a court of law, they are legally presumed innocent.

Otherwise at this rate, complaints of extra-judicial killings are bound to arise to further dent the image of the police. Restraint is therefore advised as police seek to flush out criminal elements in society.