Police ordered to stop deploying crime preventers
Crime preventers fight over T-Shirts during their pass out at Golf Course, Lira Town, in October 2015. PHOTO BY BILL OKETCH
What you need to know:
- President Museveni said UPDF would recruit 24,000 reservists including crime preventers in Kampala Metropolitan Area after the assassination of Assistant Superintendent of Police, Muhammad Kirumira and his friend Resty Naalinya in Bulenga, Wakiso District.
KAMPALA. The director of police operations, Mr Assuman Mugenyi, has ordered police commanders to immediately stop giving crime preventers police uniforms and deploying them in police operations.
In a police message released on Monday, Mr Mugenyi said some units are still deploying crime preventers even after their command was transferred to the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF).
“However, [it has been] noted that some unit commanders are still deploying them to perform official police duties on a regular basis and others have gone ahead to issue them with police uniforms. This is illegal, irregular and must be stopped with immediate effect,” Mr Mugenyi said.
He warned that: “Any commander who goes ahead to disobey this directive must have disciplinary action taken against him or her”.
Deputy police spokesman, Superintendent of Police Patrick Onyango, confirmed that Mr Mugenyi sent the message to commanders, adding that Regional Police Commanders have also been instructed to ensure that no area under their jurisdiction deploys crime preventers again.
Crime preventers were recruited in big numbers during Gen Kale Kayihura’s 13-year tenure at the helm of Uganda Police Force (UPF). Their leaders were given police motorcycles and police uniforms and tasked to carry out patrols in the suburbs and villages.
Gen Kayihura often said police were using the vigilante group because of shortage of police manpower, especially in the countryside. Some police posts have less than three officers and they have been banking on crime preventers to carry out patrols and arrests.
Human rights activists accused crime preventers of abuses and targeting opposition politicians.
After Gen Kayihura was fired, President Museveni placed crime preventers under the reserve force of the UPDF.
President Museveni said UPDF would recruit 24,000 reservists including crime preventers in Kampala Metropolitan Area after the assassination of Assistant Superintendent of Police, Muhammad Kirumira and his friend Resty Naalinya in Bulenga, Wakiso District.
The reservists will be deployed in Kampala City, Wakiso and Mukono districts.
At least 250 crime preventers’ coordinators are currently undergoing military training at National Leadership Institute in Kyankwanzi District.
