AP Spokesman Mr Masoud Mwinyi.: We will punish officers who tamper with evidence’

NAIROBI, KENYA: The police have admitted that some officers could be tampering with evidence when being investigated for gross misconduct.

But they term such instances as an exception rather than the norm and have vowed to punish such errant officers.

“Police should be cooperative with authorities and support efforts that ensure justice prevails. We do not support incidents that abet crimes and ensure cover up,” says AP Spokesman Mr Masoud Mwinyi.

He notes that the service supports the Independent Policing Oversight Authority taking legal action against officers who ignore summons, tamper with and substitute evidence when being investigated.

“If we have officers preventing justice from happening, this is a violation of the law and we will force them to be accountable. Whatever IPOA is doing is acceptable provided it is within the confines of the law,” states Mwinyi.

The spokesman notes that the service has been taken aback by rising cases of police involvement in various crimes and revealed a forum has already been held to discuss ways to deal with errant officers.

“Police are custodians of the law and any officer who is involved in crime will be treated as any other criminal. They cease to be officers and we will deal with them in accordance with the law,” he avers.

Irredeemable

Mwinyi states that while the ongoing police vetting process might help deal with some of the wayward officers, internal processes are already underway to weed out errant officers, especially those who seem irredeemable.

He at the same time admits that senior police officers are yet to start consistently forwarding cases of misconduct under their jurisdiction to IPOA but defends the situation.

“Some of these processes and structures are relatively new and have to be made clear to our officers. It may take time for fluidity in operations to be realized,” he states.

“Reforms are a process but I can assure that every new day heralds some positive change in the service”.