Are new choppers for police value for money?

The Police Service took delivery of three new Sh4 billion AgustaWestland AW139 and A12 helicopters last week and its rank and file are oozing confidence that they will beat back the crime wave. Many civilians will be forgiven for looking at the new declarations by the police top brass, including Interior CS Fred Matiang’i with jaundiced eyes. Countless times, the police service has promised better service and hasn’t it disappointed? In truth, the return on investment from the police doesn’t inspire confidence.

Too much focus on hardware at the expense of a change of hearts and minds has not delivered the desired results- police officers are better remunerated than ever; they have newer serviceable cars; they have a medical and life insurance scheme; most of them live in better quarters, but then big time crime goes on undeterred. And the police hold the dubious distinction of the most corrupt organization in the country year-in-year-out.

The murder of private investigator Mwangi Munene or the alleged rape of a student at Moi Girls School, Nairobi will join the long list of unresolved crimes that include the mysterious murder of the head of ICT at IEBC Chris Msando right before the August 8 2017 election, or the murder of controversial businessman Jacob Juma in 2016.

In Kayole, Nairobi, gangsters have formed an unholy alliance with crooked law enforcers. In March, this newspaper reported that “terrified tenants talk in hushed voices about their hair-raising encounters with the bloodthirsty gangsters who rob, maim and kill with impunity.” Three months later, the gangs remain a law unto themselves.

The recent “discoveries” of contraband sugar in the country take the biscuit. Did the contraband goods drop from the sky? The effectiveness of the police service is undermined by the lack of a robust intelligence gathering machinery or the disuse of the same. Unless that becomes the norm, crime will be the new normal.

No doubt, the police stand to gain more ground in the war on crime by investing more in equipment and also by adapting smart policing methods.