Obese police officers should be helped to get rid of their belly fats

The idea that the United Nations engineered a change of uniform for the Kenya Police Service won’t wash. The justification given for the change — that it would increase police visibility — is preposterous. But if visibility was the issue, why not the colours red, white or yellow? In Kenya, even without the new, yet seemingly drab uniform, the police are visible. You don’t have to sight them; you can smell them from a mile off. Visually, most are obese, sweaty, clad in ill-fitting uniforms from protuberant tummies and uncouth.

For a Police Service that many Kenyans consider obnoxious, tangible reforms should have taken precedence over attire. Too often, and within cities, civil society watchdog groups have blamed police officers for the increase in extra judicial killings. How the public relates with the police, induced by mistrust, is clearly wanting. It baffles that the strategists within the Police service fail to make the link between high levels of crime and a public that would rather brave criminals than report crime to the police.