Rogue officers shot dead at crime scenes

Police officers inspect guns and several bullets they intercepted from a vehicle used by robbers at Kaptembwo in Nakuru County. [File, Standard]

When a suspect identified as Corporal Jackson Kilonzo was shot dead by police officers in Nairobi last week, alarm bells started ringing.

Questions emerged on the growing number of officers shot by fellow officers at crime scenes. Just a few months earlier in Uasin Gishu County, a Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detective was shot dead by his Administration Police Service counterparts as he ran away from a crime scene during a botched robbery.

These are among the many violent crime incidents in which officers serving in the National Police Service have been killed for their involvement across the country.

The law enforcers have taken advantage of their knowledge, expertise and training in the criminal justice system to get involved in crimes such as robbery, abduction for ransom, gun running, extortion, demanding with menace, murder, defilement and assault, among others.

Impunity

Most of those crimes have been committed with impunity that only police officers are capable of.

More often than not little or no action is taken by the service, eroding public confidence in the police as law enforcers and public protectors.

Yesterday, police spokesman George Kinoti said the service does not condone crime or rogue officers. He said they have internal mechanisms that deal with such officers, often leading to sackings or court indictments.

“Like in any society we cannot claim to be clean. But those caught have been dealt with accordingly. We have many ways of dealing with them, including sackings and charging them,” said Kinoti.

The police spokesman noted that the Internal Affairs Unit deals with complaints against an officer internally. But his response does little to erase the chilling reminder that armed police officers with criminal intent pose a grave danger to society.

And their dangers were well captured by the events of Wednesday this week. At about 5.30pm, Kayole policestation-based officers noticed what they referred to as a suspicious Toyota Axio registration number KCJ 309U with a lone occupant who shot at them when they approached.

The vehicle’s occupant then jumped out of the car and ran off, but the officers supported by their Buru Buru policestation counterparts pursued and shot him dead on Kangundo Road near Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital.

Police recovered a Certificate of Appointment, which is a police identification card, in the name of No 80352 Corporal Jackson Kilonzo. Also recovered were a Motorola policecommunication radio, a pair of handcuffs and its keys, a Browning pistol loaded with five bullets and a pair of vehicle number plates and two mobile phones.

It was later established that the vehicle was a stolen car of registration number KCL 968C. Police have now denied that Kilonzo was an officer in the service, but provided no information about how the slain gangster was in possession of a Browning pistol, handcuffs and a policecommunication handset. The police denials have not stifled concerns over the involvement of police officers in criminal activities.

In the case of a DCI detective shot dead by an AP officer early this year in Uasin Gishu, he and his accomplices had reportedly robbed a Cash in Transit vehicle under Administration Police escort at gun point.

As the panicking officer and his accomplices were escaping, they bumped into two uniformed AP officers and he pulled out his gun in an attempt to open fire at the officers. The APs shot and killed him.

When the APs went to report the incident at the nearby police station, they encountered reluctance to book it until the matter escalated to the National Police Service (NPS) headquarters.

It is only when the DCI officer’s identification documents were recovered in a nearby maize plantation and during his burial that it was confirmed he was a police officer.

A year ago on the night of May 25, 2016, police Constable Simon Muturi, who had earlier been interdicted on suspicion of involvement in crime, including robbery and kidnapping around the city, was gunned down alongside three of his accomplices on Uhuru Highway near Nairobi’s Nyayo Stadium.

The 28-year-old officer previously attached to Mombasa Central Police Station was reportedly part of a four-man gang that had carjacked businessman Imran Abdulgaful and demanded a Sh70,000 ransom from his family, which they received. Three days earlier, Muturi and his accomplices had reportedly accosted a French national, Fattner Hussein, along Dennis Pritt Road in Nairobi as he was escorting his girlfriend home and bundled them into their vehicle before robbing them.

Muturi then demanded a Sh100,000 ransom from the Frenchman’s sister for his release but only got Sh50,000.

The rogue officer had also served at Ngong, Wilson Airport and Central police stations in Nairobi. He had his accomplices were linked to the kidnapping of Ivy Matiba, daughter of retired politician Kenneth Matiba, a week earlier in Westlands. They reportedly held her hostage for the entire day while demanding ransom from her family.

Shot and injured

His gang also allegedly shot and injured Turkish businessman Selman Karabacak during a botched robbery at Kikambala Terraces in the city’s Kileleshwa estate.

In another incident, police reservist Daniel Cheriuyot, alias Frank, was dramatically killed in Nairobi’s Zimmerman estate after killing police Constable Charles Karue.

Unknown to residents, the rogue officer had been made chairman of the security committee at Imara Daima estate where he resided. He was shot dead following a manhunt led by then Provincial Police Officer Kingori Mwangi. He died clutching an Uzi rifle.

Few families of the dead suspects have challenged claims that their kin were involved in crime. However, the family of police officer Edwin Ambwaya petitioned the Government to launch investigations into his killing, claiming the deceased, who was attached to the Central Police Station CID, was tortured before being killed.

But Central OCPD Paul Kariuki said Ambwaya was an interdicted officer whose case remained unsolved. Kariuki said he was found with a Ceska pistol loaded with 15 bullets at the time of his killing by other police officers, adding that interdicted officers are not supposed to be armed.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), the agency that monitors wrong-doing within the police service, says the involvement of police officers in crime is random.

“I would say these incidents are sporadic based on our monitoring. Our daily media analysis picks up trends of crimes by police and thematic incidents. Based on these reports, IPOA provides recommendations to police that would assist in mitigating them,” said IPOA’s Head of Communications and Outreach Dennis Oketch.

“If it is a crime of a more serious nature, IPOA will demand that the Internal Affairs Unit at the National Police Service initiates investigations or IPOA itself does it.”

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