‘Remove rifles from Police’

DISCOURAGED: A policeman holding an AK-47 gun on the street. FILE PHOTO

Police experts from Ireland and the United Kingdom have advised Uganda Police Force to remove assault rifles from their officers in public and crowded areas, and replace them with side guns, especially in towns.

The Chief Superintendent of Dublin Police, Ireland, Patrick Leahy and United Kingdom police expert, Mr Kevin Smith, have been in Uganda for a week carrying out the Force’s needs assessment.
“Use of AK47s in a town like Kampala isn’t appropriate. I have no doubt that they (Uganda Police) will move to reduce this,” Mr Leahy said at Police Headquarters in Kampala on Friday.

Mr Leahy said Uganda is economically developing and police officers wielding AK47s on the streets paint a bad picture of the security situation in the country.

Mr Smith, who operates in North Ireland, said in UK, officers in towns carry pistols and belts with tactical tools. In Uganda, pistols are a reserve of senior police officers and detectives.
Kayihura concedes

The Police Chief, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, conceded that it is the way to go and such belts are soon to be given to police officers.
“We should carry assault rifles on streets of Kampala because of our situation. We had terrorists throwing bombs in 1998 that is why we have armed police at junctions,” Gen. Kayihura said.
He also said they wished to have implemented the experts’ advice if the Force enough resources.

Gen. Kayihura said even in Britain, armed units are there in the streets but the only difference is that they aren’t often seen by the public because they hide themselves in cars with tinted windows.

Community policing
The trio, however, agreed that community policing is the best way to tackle new crime challenges in the world.
Gen. Kayihura said they chose Ireland and UK because they are faced with similar challenges and wanted to learn from the best approaches. “We are going for general elections, we want to learn from the best practices,” he said.