No replacement for 200 sacked Kampala CID detectives -police
The single biggest news story for the first half of 2017 was the shocking murder in March of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Andrew Felix Kaweesi (pictured), and two of his aides. File photo
What you need to know:
- The police publicist said the dropped officers will start a refresher course on November 1.
- Of recent, cases of police officers extorting money from suspects and business community in Kampala have rampant.
KAMPALA. The 200 crime detectives that were sacked from Kampala City last week over “incompetence” shall not be replaced, police has said.
Mr Andrew Felix Kaweesi, Police spokesperson, also Director Human Resource Development, said police authorities screened the Crime Investigations Department (CID) unit to remain with a few but committed personnel.
“Kampala has over 1000 detectives. The ones we relieved of their CID duties had become redundant. They had lost credibility because of engaging in fraud and extortion,” Mr Kaweesi said.
More than 200 detectives from the Kampala Metropolitan are among the nearly 1,000 personnel dropped from the CID unit last week.
He said some of the dropped officers would run after phone snatchers a duty of crime preventers and general police officers.
“Imagine a CID detective traveling to Kabale [District] to track a phone thief. They would use that opportunity to threaten and extort money from suspects,” he said.
Of recent, cases of police officers extorting money from suspects and business community in Kampala have risen.
As a result, more than 100 police officers from Kampala are under investigations while others have been dragged to police court. Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, has since halted operations of Flying Squad Unit (FSU) due to increased public outcry.
Some of the affected investigators told Daily Monitor on Monday that their sacking was based on speculations. They accused the police leadership of not conducting thorough investigations before the decision was made. However, Mr Kaweesi insisted that they were dropped based on satisfying evidence.
“Being a CID detective needs a sharp brain. But when a detective runs after “chicken thieves” that means he is no longer credible. Some of these people could present stories instead of statements,” Mr Kaweesi said.
The police publicist said the dropped officers will start a refresher course on November 1. He added that after the course they would redeployed as general police officers. He said the same screening will be conducted in other units like Traffic, Fire and Rescue, Marine Force, Engineering and Field Force Unit among others.
