Revealed: Swelling numbers of officers engaged in crime

It is estimated there are 62 cases of police officers being linked to crime every month and two cases every day. [File, Standard]

At least 625 cases of police officers being involved in crime have been reported in the last 10 months, the Sunday Standard has learnt.

The reported cases cut across the Administration Police (AP), the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and regular police.

Statistics at the police headquarters, Vigilance House, and the internal affairs unit of the police paint a grim picture of the men and women entrusted to protect lives and property of Kenyans.

The numbers have shot up from 488 cases reported within the same period last year, according to sources.

This translates to about 62 cases of police officers being linked to crime every month and two cases every day.

Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai in April failed to resolve the issues of police officers getting involved in crime during a meeting he called after his appointment.

At the time, police officers from an elite DCI unit based at Parklands DCI offices had been arrested and detained at a roadblock manned by regular police officers in Kitengela on suspicion that they were escorting contraband ethanol.

The meeting called at the IG’s Jogoo House office failed to reach an agreement on the matter after DCI chief George Kinoti accused DIG Edward Mbugua of failing to reign in his officers for allegedly harassing his officers.

The incidents range from officers seeking the Sh50 bribes at police roadblocks to more complex cases but not limited to murder, robberies, extortion, kidnapping, gunrunning and drug trafficking, among other serious crimes.

The latest incident linking police officers to robbery happened last Saturday night in Nairobi’s Eastleigh estate, where officers from Kayole police station are alleged to have robbed two men of Sh6 million in a lodging.

Three officers were arrested and locked up at Pangani police station.

At least Sh3 million was recovered from the officers, while another Sh3 million is said to have gone missing in the hands of a fourth cop who managed to escape.

Ordered out

Police said the three officers together with a Cameroonian man stormed into the lodging where the two men were and ordered them to surrender.

They grabbed the cash from them but were nabbed by their colleagues from Eastleigh who responded to an alarm.

The grim reality of criminal police officers and the degradation of trust in the institution in whose hands the security of 40 million Kenyans lies has shocked even Police Spokesman Charles Owino who yesterday admitted that things were not as they should be in the police service.

“It’s true more incidents linking police officers have been reported lately. All is not lost as we are dealing with the situation firmly, said Owino in a phone interview.

He said lack of proper supervision of junior officers by their seniors had led to cases of officers engaging in crime.

Owino said among things police chiefs were doing to deal with the problem was firing officers involved in crime.

Found wanting

“Police commanders have been instructed to closely supervise their juniors and to let go any officer found wanting,” he said.

In 2016, a government report revealed that more than a third of crimes reported to the police involved police officers themselves. The Economic Survey 2016 revealed that policemen were involved in 24,647 or 34 per cent of the total 72,490 cases of crimes reported to the police in 2015. The report indicted the security officers with a conclusion that crime continued to grow despite billions of shillings being invested in the purchase of equipment and recruitment of additional officers to enhance the ratio of security personnel to the population.

The report further revealed that policemen were mostly involved in drug trafficking, criminal damage and economic crimes. Last week, Mutyambai announced a Sh377 billion budget that he hopes will help fight crime. In it, the police proposes that Sh9 billion be spent to set up a criminal database.

The depth to which police officers have sunk could send the Interior ministry back to the drawing board to rethink new ways of reigning on the criminals in their rank and file.

In the last two months, the country has witnessed cases of police officer getting involved in organised crimes such as the Sh72 million Nairobi bank heist.

At least four police officers have since been arrested and charged in court over the stolen cash.

Part of the loot as well as vehicles bought with the stolen money have also been recovered from the police officers.

Last week, a police couple was among three suspects arrested over the Standard Chartered Bank ATM cash theft. A KDF officer, also a relative to the couple, was arrested by officers from the Special Crimes Prevention Unit during a police operation on suspected thugs linked to the heist.

Police did not recover any money and it is believed that the cash was being hidden in a house at a military barrack in Nairobi.