Police should step up its community liaison role

The circumstances under which Emmanuel Tegu, a third year Veterinary student of Makerere University, met his end has thrust police deeper into the abyss of a failed community liaison role. Like a standard narrative, police first alleged in a statement that the deceased was a suspected thief beaten up by a mob.
Makerere is closed to public and the ongoing curfew regulations put in place as one of the measures to check the spread of coronavirus means it is difficult for a mob to operate at 11pm in a heavily-guarded institution that the university is. That the police could feed the public on such a narrative shows how far back it is caught up in the times.

Twenty years ago, the same statement would have hardly raised an eyebrow. But citizens are no longer too passive, nor are they reliant on the police spokespersons for such security briefing. It is a digital era where people have a lot more ways to get the truth themselves.
Like in the Nansana incident in February when Dan Kyeyune, son of a serving police officer, was gunned down during MP Robert Kyagulanyi’s procession.
Like in the Kayunga incident when police officers attached to former minister Idah Nantaba killed an unarmed civilian Ronald Ssebulime whom they had already subdued. Like in NBS TV and BBC undercover investigations into theft of government drugs. And many others.

If police want to protect people as its mandate demands, then it must start with its public-community policing relations. Citizens are not too ignorant to continue being fed on narratives that wouldn’t even pass the test of time. And police cannot afford to keep churning out such statements.
It is understandable in political situations, but not crime.
Good police-community relations are imperative for developing trust between police and citizens.

Without this trust, police work becomes much less effective. Even if the police officers are preventing crime, people may not feel safe because there is no trust. And how are they to work with and help in policing when they cannot trust the Force?
Police should not take its communication functions for granted. The Force cannot afford to be seen as a purveyor of ‘fake news’ in its official communication to the public. These not-funny-statements are like an expensive joke hanging on the head of police right about now. It’s a burden to shake off immediately.