On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 3:01 PM, Steve Muchai <smuchai@gmail.com> wrote:
On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 10:09 AM, Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo@gmail.com> wrote:
Liwindi,
There is already in place laws to deal with misuse of firearms by
officers
of the disciplined forces. Within these setups, there are very strict ways for accounting for any weapons used (read bullets), and internal processes are there to determine if such use is legal.
Wash,
Then the rules simply don't work.
9 Dec 2009: my cousin Martin is jacked by thugs, who then abandon him and jack a couple. They take his car keys. Neighbours who respond to the alarm, and some two APs, determine he's not one of the thugs when they search him and his car. A few minutes later, regulars come and shoot him four times at point-blank range. On 11th Dec I identify his body at City Morgue, and when we inquire further, the coverup story is that there was a shootout, another story that he had an AK, another one that he had a pistol, then another story that he was running away (never mind all the entry wounds are up front, and there were eyewitnesses) etc....
October 2010: Nganga Kariuki and his sister are carjacked at gunpoint. They're cornered by cops, the thugs bolt, but the cops still spray the car with bullets and kill the 23-year old and injure his sister.
November 2010: Rachel Nduta (a friend and Family Bank employee) is attacked by thugs who abandon her car and bundle her into the one they've already jacked. They're cornered, she identifies herself and pleads to be spared, but the cops shoot her over 10 times point blank. They also do the same to the owner of the car she was in.
These are all people I knew personally, dead at the hands of police, within one year. In all these cases, they were innocent, and had the cops arrested them and verified their story, they'd be alive today. I'm not trying to exonerate the guys who were killed, but all I'm trying to say here is that whenever you read in the news that some "notorious elements" were shot dead "after engaging my boys in a shootout", take it with a pinch of salt.
BR S
Steve, While the incidents are unfortunate, I did not say that there are no incidents when police are to blame for executions. Let me say this. Years ago when I was a child, anyone who felt guilty used to literally run away when they heard cops were coming. A citizen killing a cop was unheard of. How about now? The ordinary citizen looks at a cop with indignation. No one wants to think of the cops as protecting them, but rather as a source of harassment. No one feels anything if a cop is killed. What do you think is the collective effect of this? The mistrust between the citizenry (aka the civilians) and the cops has creates a situation where cops don't take chances with anyone, especially where there is a chance of illegal firearms. In the line of fire, even cops do panic, more so when it is at night, because you do not know who is who. What should people do? Try to read security bulletins issued by organizations like the UN to their staff. It is safer (actually safest) to cooperate with the thugs until they release you THAN involving cops in the process, and especially at NIGHT. Unfortunately, such information does not permeate to everyone, hence the sad incidents. What I am saying is that we cannot blame the cops wholesale. -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Damn!!