Police must step up crime fight

From some of the crimes we have noted recently, it is obvious that there is a major failing in the area of intelligence gathering. And for Kayihura and his team, it will be important to reflect on what kind of relationship his officers enjoy with the community.

A chilling killing took place in Kabowa, a Kampala suburb, on Friday. Assailants, dressed as service providers, sought entry into the home of Mr Solomon Byaruhanga and his wife Fiona, stabbed the couple’s one-year-old son and their maid, killing them.
This incident comes weeks after a family of nine was killed in their house in Rakai District and despite the Inspector General of Police, Lt. Gen. Kale Kayihura, camping in the central district for days now, not much has been done to apprehend the suspects. Instead, two days ago, a similar killing took place in the neighbourhood of where the police chief had pitched camp.
A run through the media recently shows a marked increase in crime. A fortnight ago, the Uganda Human Rights Commission, in a report, raised the red flag, warning that if something is not done urgently to stem the tide, we are on the brink of having criminals having a field day.
As a rejoinder, Gen. Kayihura told residents of Rakai that his men and officers are not magicians to sniff out each and every criminal and therefore the fight against crime should be a collective effort. Whereas we agree with the police chief that everyone must play their role in checking crime, he cannot pass the buck in the crime fight to ordinary Ugandans.
From some of the crimes we have noted recently, it is obvious that there is a major failing in the area of intelligence gathering. And for Kayihura and his team, it will be important to reflect on what kind of relationship his officers enjoy with the community.
The police have for a while stressed the element of community policing but a big driver of this is how cordial the community and the Force relationship is. It is evident that the police still have their work cut out in terms of winning public trust and being able to get the community fully behind them in this crusade.
We, therefore, pray that the police will get to the bottom of these senseless killings and to the Byaruhangas, we pass our condolences.