Police in shoot-to-kill move against robbers

Blood stains of one of the two suspected thieves who were shot dead on Friday at Ntinda in Nimbi Ziwome zone. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA.

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Officer down. Decision reached at crisis meeting held after a police officer was killed and his gun taken away by suspected thugs.

KAMPALA

The police have reintroduced the 2002 ‘Operation Wembley’ method in which security personnel will shoot-to-kill suspected robbers on sight. The method once condemned by human rights activists is supposed to counter armed robberies that have been on the rise recently.

Police announced yesterday the Force had instructed its crack unit – Flying Squad - to deal with robbers in an effort to break the back of suspects behind organised crimes especially in Kampala and its suburbs. The order follows a crisis meeting held last week at the Kampala Metropolitan Police headquarters, following the shooting of a police officer on duty, and his gun being stolen, city police spokesperson Ibin Ssenkumbi said yesterday.

He said despite opposition from human rights activists, the re-introduced violent crackdown method will help reduce the rotation and circulation of suspected violent criminals in the country. “We are mandated by law to put people who are found with guns out of action. These kind of criminals will not be taken beyond the scene of crime.

They are organised, keep rotating around the city and come back from where they started. We have to act before our officers are killed,” Mr Ssenkumbi said. “When you look at the way they steal the guns and kill policemen, these individuals are trained and we cannot rule out the possibility that some of them have worked in security organisations, but these guns are in the wrong hands,” Mr Ssenkumbi added.

Human rights activists were quick to oppose the new police move, saying the method would amount to extra-judicial executions, which is against the rights guaranteed under the Constitution. “Such operations cannot be allowed to take place because sometimes the individual maybe mistaken and some may even use the policy to settle personal vendettas. The general principle is that people should be heard,” Mr Livingstone Ssewanyana, the executive director Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, said.

Mr Patrick Tumwine of the Human Rights Network Uganda, yesterday said the police were overstepping their mandate by applying such an unconstitutional policy. “The only mandate they have in relation to shoot-to-kill is when they are acting in self defence,” Mr Tumwine said.

Meanwhile, the police violent crime unit, Flying Squad, have arrested at least 40 people around the country over allegations that they participated in at least 19 violent crimes.

The suspects were allegedly involved in violent crimes like highway robbery, murder, theft of cash.
Unlike Operation Wembley, which was made up of a joint security team formed from the intelligence services, police and the army, the force will carry out the current operation with its crackunit – the Flying Squad.