Assault: Matatu crew on the run after attacking traffic officer

Traffic officers manning a roadblock on Muranga-Thika Road. Their counterparts on Mbagathi Road were attacked by a matatu crew last Sunday. [File, Standard]

Police are looking for a matatu crew that assaulted an officer in a scuffle along Mbagathi Road in Nairobi.

The crew escaped and abandoned the matatu at the Highridge bus stop after the incident.

Police say a hunt for the suspects in the Sunday incident is ongoing. It is not clear what prompted the scuffle. Police say they are still investigating.

Nairobi police boss Joseph ole Tito said the injured officer was treated at an unnamed hospital and later discharged.

He cautioned against attack on any police officers. He urged the public to always report complaint(s) against officers to either Internal Affairs Unit or Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA).

A similar incident was reported in Nakuru last month.

IPOA has since condemned attacks on police officers who on duty.

The authority said “these criminal actions” interrupt the dispensation of security services and inconvenience law abiding Kenyans.

Foster anarchy

It added that it was unacceptable for anyone to take the law into their hands with a serving Police Service and a robust Judiciary in place, as that was likely to foster anarchy and break established order in society.

“IPOA has clear mechanisms and structures for receiving and investigating public and police complaints with the goal of professionalising the police service,” said the authority's spokesman Denis Oketch.

Mr Oketch said the authority had been vocal in castigating the police for unprofessional conduct and successfully recommended prosecution of errant police officers, some who had been charged in court.

IPOA said in a statement that it defeated the purpose of police reforms when the public turned and committed the same offences they complained about if committed by police officers.

The statement was made after a video showing a tuk tuk driver attacking two police officers was widely circulated.

Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet has said they are investigating the Nakuru incident.

He said they were retraining police officers to enable them deal with developing challenges.

“We realised there was a problem in training, hence embarked on fixing it from 2015. We have transformative training,” he said.