Africa-Press – Uganda. What should have been a routine exercise of taking a suspect into custody or to record a statement at the police station in Mayuge District in Busoga earlier this week ended in an unfortunate death. (See “Suspect shot dead during arrest in Mayuge” Daily Monitor, November 9).
A viral video clip of the suspect and his kin in a fracas with two armed security personnel in Miyanzi Village in Bugoto Parish left a lot to ponder. What could lead civilians to confront armed personnel the way it was depicted in the video clip? How did the security officers fail to predict such a scenario and end up in such a deadly fracas? How equipped are security personnel in dealing with such situations that could cost them their lives in a case of a violent standoff involving more than a dozen villagers or a mob situation?
In the recent past, it has become common for security personnel to issue statements about the shooting to death of suspects during arrests. Usually, the victims are said to have been resisting arrest. Just like that. Unless the incident caught media attention, it ends with the statement and the burial.
But it is high time those in responsible offices, especially the police, took such matters beyond the casual statements and made their officers to account. The more the cases, the harsher the slap in the face of the police because these are officers supposed to be well-trained in handling violent suspects without endangering their own lives and those of the suspects.
Police must start asking tough questions of their officers and hold them accountable for such incidents. Usually when such happens, police will know exactly what triggered it. But that it still happens is telling of the police’s effort to check it. Among the issues police must address is that of sending their officers in civilian clothes to such ‘operations.’ While it worked in the past, the times have changed. Civilians respect officers in uniform and will understand why they are armed. It is different for armed men in civilian clothes because, while this is fast becoming a norm in the country today, the sight of a gun-toting man in civilian clothes is dreaded.
The majority of such are usually carrying assault rifles (AK- 47). In a society where lawlessness and abductions – by both those in authority and criminals alike – continue to pervade the social milieu, it is understandable that many citizens get extremely suspicious when confronted by security personnel in civilian clothing. It is simply not right for security personnel effecting arrests to give those they are arresting and their community any reasons to be suspicious. And guns and civilian clothes are still a long way from being acceptable.
Police need to reassess their modus operandi in as much as local leaders must do their part in creating awareness of the law and submitting to custodial requests. Ideally, such arrests should be carried out after briefing and in the presence of the local leaders.
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