Police quick to serve the mighty

The casual manner in which police and prosecutors work has been exposed in a new report.

Police, according to the report, routinely disregard crimes committed against ordinary Kenyans, but are quick to serve influential people.

Thus the majority of robbery with violence cases reported are never taken to court for trial and the few suspects charged walk away scot-free due to lack of evidence produced against them.

The report is the result of a survey commissioned by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority and conducted in 36 Counties.

Investigation period

Chairman of the authority’s Finance and Administration Committee Tom Kagwe, who presented the report said: “Investigation period (which police take to look into a report) depends on who is the complainant.”

He further explained that police would usually move fast to act on a matter if it’s reported by a person regarded as influential.

The Baseline Survey On Policing Standards And Gaps In Kenya, which was launched on Wednesday, shows that 62 per cent of robbery cases never proceeded beyond the police stations in which they were reported, because too little evidence was gathered to warrant a consideration for trial.

Of the few that were taken to court, 78 per cent were thrown out even before the case reached a point where the accused person was required to defend himself or herself, simply because the evidence adduced was deemed too weak.

Besides robberies, the survey also looked into two other felonies: “Preparing to commit a felony,” and “theft by servant.”

“The review of felony cases files indicates a conviction rate of 25 per cent. This means that only one in four cases ends in a conviction. This finding raises concern because it reveals poor quality investigations and challenges for police to determine which cases are ripe for prosecution,” part of the report reads.

The survey involved an analysis of 203 case files at Kamukunji, Kilimani, Kariobangi and Huruma police stations in Nairobi, as well as interviews with 515 officers.

Some 5,082 households were also interviewed.

IPOA chairman Macharia Njeru said: “The quality of investigations at the station level is very poor and a lot of work has to be done. The impact of professional misconduct is very high.”

The report further revealed that the National Police Service is staffed with brutal officers who falsified evidence, threatened the public with unjustifiable imprisonment and took bribes.

It did not spare prosecutors either : “There were many cases where the office of director of public prosecutions did not give directions on areas that needed to be covered by investigators to gain evidence,” said Mr Kagwe.

However, most cases in Kenya are prosecuted by police officers because the DPP’s office is barely three years old and is inadequately staffed. But even where prosecutors gave guidance on best ways to nail suspects, investigators were further reprimanded.

“This finding indicates that prosecutors are returning files for additional investigation but the police are not necessarily producing any additional evidence,” the report says.
It adds: “In most cases, communication between police and prosecutors is not being fully exploited to jointly work on strengthening the case.”

A big number of case files seen by the researchers lacked vital documents that the court would rely on.

Prove crime

Even in a number of cases that moved to court, proceedings collapsed: “Police were able to collect evidence to prove that a certain crime was committed, but proving that the accused person was involved was more challenging,” says the report.

Section 87 of the Criminal Procedure Act says in part: “A public prosecutor may, with the consent of the court, withdraw from the prosecution of any person,” in order to conduct further investigations.

Police misconduct largely goes unreported, the report notes. Officers interviewed said: “Officers who witness misdeeds by colleagues do not report for fear of reprisals, threats of being transferred, no action taken and it would affect employment.”

Moreover, members of the public also fail to report such malpractices because they fear no action would be taken, threats from officers as well as financial challenges.

However, the report also noted that police efficiency was hampered by among others low morale due to incommensurate salaries and lack of modern equipment to fight crime.

Inspector-General of Police David Kimaiyo, who attended the launch, said police detectives are usually trained not to take cases to court unless there is sufficient evidence.

“What could be lacking is the communication between the detectives and complainant and so the latter does not understand a case cannot be taken to court without enough evidence. A case file cannot also be closed if it has not been determined by a court,” he said.