Go beyond rhetoric on security matters

We have previously argued that one of the main attractions of the proposal by the Waki Commission to merge the Administration Police Unit and the ‘regular’ police force, was the huge increase in law enforcement officers. This was to shore up numbers since Kenya’s police to population ratio is below international standards.

For purposes of improving policing, this newspaper supported calls to scale up the police service and improve terms and conditions of service and backed many of the Waki team reform suggestions.

And while Vigilance House has a specific interest in increasing the number of officers trained in forensic evidence and speeding up establishment of a forensic laboratory at the Criminal Investigation Department, we felt that such changes would greatly enhance detection or prevention of crime.

The last 24 hours, however, have not been very rosy for the police force. It turned out nine people including two police officers died. Reported separately in this newspaper are a dramatic gunfight between police and gangsters in Nairobi’s Ruaka area. The cinema-style car chase across several counties, pile of bodies and recovered arsenal pointed to a fresh wave of crime. Separately, a police officer was strangled along Nairobi’s Mombasa Road.

To add to their miserable week, police are trying to get to the bottom of grenade blasts that left death in their wake, and a couple of politicians are in a spot over alleged hate speeches recorded at their rallies. And all the while, Internal Security Minister Prof George Saitoti was on his feet at the National Assembly reassuring Kenyans of their security.

Intelligence-based system

The Ministerial Statement was spot on, but stated the obvious. It takes more than more of patrol cars, officers, salaries and fuel to make a noticeable dent on crime. There has to be a systematic and intelligence-based way — one Prof Saitoti calls ‘you never always see the security, but its is there’.

This means there must be early detection in order to make investigation count. Secondly, enforcement agencies must find ways to penetrate terrorist and organised groups, for those are the most lethal and usually, first suspects after any assault on public peace and decency.

Groups that veer from using small arms to deploying explosives and heavy-caliber weaponry are usually better funded and organised. To tackle these, covert police intelligence becomes invaluable.

Are security agencies equipped to deal with a major hit on strategic utilities like hydro-electric power stations, water reservoirs, railway lines, sea and airports? What, for instance does it cost to better secure a 50-100,000 crowd like the ones at stadia? Won’t Closed Circuit Television help a great deal? Other countries have already taken this avenue.

How good are our officers’ crowd management techniques (except when quelling a riot)? Has any effort been made to make politicians and church leaders — through advertisements in the media — appreciate that it is in their interest to heed timetables?

What other avenues of investigation are available when a crime is devoid of clues? How many more bodies would Kenyans have been confronted with if Phillip Onyancha had not confessed, two years into a killing spree that spanned three provinces?

Anglo Leasing

When shall Kenya embrace "smart methods" of detection such as the use of DNA, profiling, electronic tags and forensic techniques to solve crime?

Granted, the country squandered an opportunity to set up its own laboratories through the Anglo Leasing blowout that bridged the outgoing Kanu and incoming Narc administrations? Kenyan police now rely on British and South African facilities to interrogate certain transgressions. Is there an effort to acquire these?

Let the Security Minister walk the talk on security. Bland generalistions won’t do. It is painful to record the felling of police officers, for with each casualty, is one less patrolman and protector of the larger public.