IPOA Investigating over 20,000 complaints against Police officers; Warns of stern action
IPOA Investigating 20,000 complaints against Police Officers/Photo Caroline Kahonzi
By Caroline Kahonzi
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority IPOA has warned police officers of prosecution if found violating the law.
IPOA has confirmed receiving 20,000 complaints from members of the public over the misconduct of certain police officers in the country.
The communication’s manager of IPOA Dennis Okech, says the responsibility of the commission is to ensure police officers carry out their duties in accordance with the law so that citizens can benefit from police services.
“The commission has received 20,000 complaints so far, more than 3,000 cases are under active investigations and we have also been able to investigate and close about 4,000 case files, “said Mr. Okech.
Speaking in Ukunda, Kwale county in a forum of assessing how police officers conducted their duties during the last general election exercise, a forum that was organized by the Kenya community support center KECOSCE ,through the Safe Coast project, Mr.Okech said that it is not the aim of the commission to find fault with police officers but to carry out their mandate as per the law.
“There are few officers who defile the laws but normally we recommend that legal action be taken against them, and there are also those who we find through our investigations probably did not commit offenses and we also recommend that they should not be charged in court,” Posed Mr.Okech..
Mr. Okech has pointed out that IPOA has put in place appropriate strategies to ensure that citizens who have complaints against the police officers reach them on time.
“There is a unit whose mandate is to talk to the citizens and sensitize them how to reach IPOA as fast as possible,, we have created a toll free number 1559, any Kenyans, IPOA has designed a communication team that travels all over the country to meet Kenyans as well as police officers to create better understanding of the mandates of IPOA,” Said Mr. Okech.
On his side Kecosce’s field officer Mwalimu Rama said that the Safe Coast project is being implemented in Kwale, Kilifi and Mombasa counties to ensure that police officers do not use excessive force when carrying out their duties.
“I want to thank the police officers in the coastal region,in the last election, they did a good job, they did not use excessive force and they were also able to work closely with the community, albeit a few cases have been reported,” Said Mr.Rama.
Mr. Rama has also sensitized members of the public against attacking police officers and instead should report the misconduct of police officers to IPOA.
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