Police deploy 4,000 cops in Kampala

Oct 23, 2007

MORE security is to be deployed in Kampala city this week ahead of the Commonwealth Summit next month. Another contingent of 4,200 special police constables, or SPCs, will be patrolling the city’s streets, bringing the number of brown-uniformed constables to 5,300.

By Herbert Ssempogo

MORE security is to be deployed in Kampala city this week ahead of the Commonwealth Summit next month. Another contingent of 4,200 special police constables, or SPCs, will be patrolling the city’s streets, bringing the number of brown-uniformed constables to 5,300, according to the Force’s spokesman, Asan Kasingye.

The officers, who underwent a five-month course at the Police Training School in Masindi, will be stationed at strategic places in the city.

“We want to ensure that the summit is not marred by crime,” Kasingye said, adding that Kampala residents, too, should be safe, both during and after the summit. He announced that the SPCs would soon have identity cards and police numbers, like regular police officers. Concerns had been raised that it is difficult to identify an SPC, particularly if he was involved in crime.

Meanwhile, the police boss, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, will meet traders in the city centre today to brief them about the security arrangements for the Commonwealth summit.

Kampala Extra police spokesman Simeo Nsubuga told the press that the meeting at Nakivubo Blue Primary School would be followed by others in all divisions of Kampala.

The Police also paraded two men suspected of conning people. Jonathan Bossa, 26, allegedly had a box containing fake dollars, while Ali Abubaker was accused of cheating four people by promising them jobs in Juba, South Sudan.

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