The police and all our armed forces generally do a very noble job for this country that is, they put their lives on the line for our sake. They defend other families while they sleep so cozily at night. Mind you; they also have real families as well. What this means is that they have feelings, emotions and everything else human in their nature that presumably many people often disregard.
People see them as these beings who are cruel, harsh, ruthless, merciless, heartless and every other strong negative adjective you can ever think of. But for crying out loud these people who we are banishing have homes and families who wait for them eagerly during their long awaited leaves.
I am penning this bearing in mind what happened in Narok just the other day. A man in uniform reportedly started shooting aimlessly in the air at no one. Reports indicate that the officer could have been under a lot of stress and other psychological pressure. He needed help from his boss, who in return would have none of it. Having a police officer going through this is very disturbing.
Let us not condemn the poor officer, because he is only a replica of what happens across the board. Quite a number of them go through a lot each and every day of their lives. What our officers need is help, not judging them harshly. They undergo some things which are beyond them, yes I know very well they are trained and everything but we all are human beings and a number of issues are just too much for one to bear; meaning we are bound to human weakness.
Take this scenario where one has been deployed to Iraq or even Somalia, what that person has submitted to himself or herself is somewhat a baggage of what we can say are problems. No time for family and relatives let alone friends. All he or she has is tattered, scruffy and old family photographs.
I urge all the stakeholders starting with the government to put into place counseling mechanisms in the force straightaway, and if they are there, let them be effective and efficient. We want them operational so as to avoid such aforementioned incidents in future. In addition, the high ranking police officers should know better. Kindly be mindful of the welfare of your colleagues. Let them air their problems and may you provide the assistance due required.
In any case, they are literally offering their lives on our behalf, how can they perform exceptionally if they are under such mental torture. Remember they are someone’s dad, mum, aunt, brother etc. of whom they love very much, not forgetting they are the sole breadwinners to those families. Point is; they are human as we are, let us not brushoff that detail.
