Traffic police should do their job professionally

The manner in which some police officers conduct themselves does little to improve the dented image of the force.

Last week, policemen teargassed primary school children protesting the grabbing of their school playground in Lang'ata, Nairobi.

Monday morning, the conductor of a bus that belongs to the Kenya Bus Services, which was traveling from Utawala towards the city centre was manhandled at the Imara bus stage by individuals who claimed to be police officers from the Embakasi police station.

The conductor was bundled into a waiting private van that had been parked besides the road, allegedly for touting. It is not clear whether the van, whose registration number we were furnished with, is part of the police fleet.

While it is the duty of the traffic police to maintain law and order on the roads, it is necessary that they go about their duties professionally and desist from inconveniencing commuters.

The officers in question were in civilian clothing and declined to identify themselves when challenged by irate travelers who were getting agitated by the delay. The bus driver who sought to know what the problem was ended up being arrested as well.

Police on duty must be able to identify themselves if called upon to do so to avoid suspicion.

Because of this incident, passengers who had nothing to do with whatever crime the conductor had committed were left stranded at the stage.

Some of them had paid their fares and were waiting for change from the conductor. Pleas by passengers to have the driver released to ferry them to work fell on deaf ears while the conductor was not allowed to return change.

While police have the obligation to do their work, we implore them to also be sensible and where possible, avoid inconveniencing public service vehicle users.

Most importantly, policemen on duty must be in uniform to preclude the element of doubt. It is also necessary to establish whether operations such as the one that happened at Imara had been sanctioned and take appropriate action to avoid recurrence.