A city gone to the dogs as canines take charge

By Peter Kimani

Starting this month, the city in the sun will be patrolled by “men” in a different kind of uniform.

I hear canines presumably in brown coats, will be deployed to decongest crowded areas, apparently because they have a better sense of smelling trouble from miles away, especially the legendary bad guys with guns, to use the term in vogue, or those selling drugs.

This canine proposition, apparently, is backed by evidence where such strategies have worked best, although no mention was made about the canines being incorruptible. After all, dogs cannot hire out their uniform, which I understand is becoming a common practice for hard up policemen.

But officers, who will still be charged with the responsibility of apprehending suspects, will still hold the dogs on leashes.This makes the case for surveillance cameras to be deployed in every corner of the city so that every transaction is recorded.

The motivation for this idea comes from some French sage by the name of Michel Foucault. In his quest to understand why just a few men with guns could control hundreds of hardened criminals in prisons, Foucault discovered prisoners thought they were under 24-hour surveillance, even when they were not.