In defence of neglected officers in blue

When you see a policeman or woman, what is the first thing that comes to mind?

The bribes they take or the safety they guarantee while you are snoring the night away as they patrol your neighbourhood on cold nights and in drenched coats?

Do you imagine their plight at accident and disaster scenes or in the morgues as they witness post-mortems for legal reasons?

I ask because police officers are probably the most unlucky breed in our society. Yes, many of them take bribes, I see that when I travel on the Nakuru-Nairobi highway.

They have a silent and secretly agreed fee with boda boda operators, matatu drivers and touts, and managers of truck and bus fleets.

We only pretend at the official level that corruption in the police force is something insignificant, but we often forget that we are accomplices in the act. It takes two to tango as they say, but like the proverbial kettle with a black bottom, the one yet to be placed on the fire laughs at the one on the pyre, not knowing its turn is coming.

Today, I am not quite keen on the sleazy side of the police for much as we don't like it, the extortion rings in the force (now they are referred to as a service, but I will stick with force) are not about to go away largely because the greasing of palms is a national culture and a bad habit that has stuck.

I asked a friend in the force about the extent of graft and why it takes place and he was brutally honest.

Turns out one of Kenya's most flamboyant preachers gives their bosses "good money" to ensure the route the clergyman uses to many of his crusades is lined with security teams.

This friend told me now that they know the big guys are on the take, they also must smell the coffee and satisfy their needs within the small orbit they operate in. Three other things frustrate the police more than we ordinary folks imagine.

First, their salaries are low and their living quarters pathetic, but they are expected to guard mansions where millionaires snore peacefully at night, or sit outside in cars as the bosses to whom they are assigned take a last lap with their mistresses or 'chips funga'.

We might say there is no justification for graft, but then we must also confront the neglect and humiliation our police officers have to live through.

Deep inside us, we know they are a reflection of the best and the worst in our society because they are part of us. Many of us, when a relative has been arrested, will flex muscles; we will call the senior-most officer we know.

In the end, an officer who legitimately arrested your friend or relative is called into the big guy's office and ordered, as he salutes with endless responses of 'Yes Afande', to release the vile criminal!

What do you imagine goes on in the minds of the police officers in question?

Obviously, they know that the boss can't do certain things as cajoling or even breaking the arm of the law for free! So the next time they will ensure they get a share of the pie before the suspects even reach the police stations.

That is why today, because it is Friday, many more bribes will change hands. Being the end of week and the end of the month, police know those they catch will part with anything to avoid spending the weekend in cold cells whose trademark remains the acrid smell of ammonia from the filthy buckets in the corner.

But the point we have to appreciate, other than the fact that we are the ones fanning the embers of corruption in the force, is that we are better off with these officers, and there are many decent ones who include preachers and religious musicians.

With regard to education, one of my teachers used to tell us and our parents derisively, on the days we held important events, that if we thought corruption was expensive, we should try arrogance.

We can rephrase this by asking ourselves what it would mean for us if we were to chase the police away from our villages and streets.

That is why my heart goes out to the families of the police officers, we, shameless members of the public, have recently killed!

On Saturday, six people were trapped by criminals in Kapedo, Baringo County, among them three GSU officers and a regular policeman, and massacred.

In Samburu, this week, cattle rustlers killed four home-guards (or simply put, poorly armed and less trained volunteers) who earn peanuts for the sake of the safety of their communities.

But the most callous police killing lately was in Matindi village in Western Kenya, where two police officers on night patrol were hacked to death by villagers who were convinced they were thugs.

Just the other day, police officers shot dead the bodyguard of an MP in Dagoretti even as he insisted he was not a criminal. Turns out the barmaid noticed he was carrying a firearm and 'tipped' the police.

On the roads, we now have the temerity to chase and stone police officers, something that was unheard of a few years ago. We vent our anger on them because we call them extortionists and purveyors of extra-judicial killings.

But probe deeper and you will find we may be playing into the hands of criminals who want to cow the police to curl their tails and whimper on the street corners in fear so that they (the thugs) can go around mugging and stealing from us unchallenged.

Yes, we may soon get just what we are asking for because we have decided that police reforms aren't working but our mob justice mentality can produce wonders!