Police have to own up whenever they blunder

Obstinacy and denial are the standard responses from police to claims of any and all abuses by officers in the course of their operations. As a strategy, this knee-jerk reaction serves to reinforce the perception that anything goes in the service. It, thus, ensures all claims, whether true or false, hang around the police service like a bad smell.

As part of reforms to improve the way law and order works, the police need to embrace transparency and acknowledge failings if and when they occur. Only in a climate where there is a genuine effort to find out whether orders are implemented lawfully is it possible to weed out rogue officers and avoid the stain of serious crimes by the boys in blue.

The report by Human Rights Watch on abuses against refugees and Kenyan Somalis during a ten-week crackdown is cause for concern.

Taken in light of reactions from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, there is a real probability HRW and the 101 people they interviewed have overstated their case. Most of the 1,000-plus people affected by the crackdown were not tortured, but some were clearly forced to part with bribes for their freedom.

It would not take too much effort to safeguard future operations from this kind of behaviour.

As for the seven alleged rapes and four-dozen ‘tortures’, stricter enforcement of discipline during operations and an internal crackdown on cowboy behaviour can ensure such crackdowns are conducted professionally.