Religious leaders of Teso have told the Police leadership that their forces consist of brutal officers who have left members of the public in fear.

St Peter's Cathedral provost Naptali Opwata says the Police's image has been tainted with accusations of human rights violations.

“They are mandated to keep law and order, but in the course of their duties they have ended up violating the rights of the people they are meant to protect, an issue we appeal to their top leadership to take up,” Opwata said.

The religious leaders also informed the top leadership of the Police that their officers do not respond on time whenever an issue occurs.

The RPC Kyoga East Damalie Nachuha ( right) and other police officers singing the national theme during the consultation in Soroti city

Opwata who represented Bishop Kosea Odongo; Fr Waziwazi Ongereny who represented Bishop Joseph Eciru Oliach and Suliaman Enyangu who represented Teso Kadhi Mohamed Ochen, urged the Police leadership to institute a force that is friendly and professional in handling the community.

"There is a lot of militarisation in the Police. If the Police are supposed to keep law and order, they should not be brutal, but gentle. In Tanzania, before a Police officer searches you, they will call you ndugu [brother],” Ongereny said.

Ongerney was part of the religious leaders invited by the Police to give their views in regard to the image of the force they would like to see Police possess.

The Police force has embarked on collecting ideas from fellow officers, religious leaders, academia, media, cultural and business communities in the country towards the formation of the new Police doctrine.

Godfrey Golooba the director human resource development

The doctrines that govern the force currently were put in place by the colonial masters over five decades ago.

Police director of human resource development Godfrey Golooba is heading the team of colleagues who are gathering views.

Enyangu raised the concern of terrorists that have continued invading the country yet the Police are deployed in all border areas.

According to him, the Police force always delays responding to any issues that occur in the community.

“People have little trust in the Police force because they are slow in responding whenever called. We are also concerned that terrorists will enter the country under the watchful eyes of the Police,” Enyangu said.

Golooba (center) and religous leaders and other top police officers pose for a group picture after the consultations on Wednesday

Brutality accusation denied

While opening the consultation sessions in Teso, Golooba refuted claims of the Police force being brutal.

“Police are not brutal, and we do not teach them brutality in the training schools. We only pull out hard when the situation changes to rioters,” Golooba said.\

He stated that they teach Police officers the soft approach of policing that they employ many times save for riotous situations when they employ hard policing methods.

Police officers raise welfare complaints

The Police officers in Teso were also consulted and their views were captured though they declined revealing it to the media.

However, sources among those who attended the consultation, said they raised issues of poor welfare and overload of work.

According to Golooba all the views collected shall be processed and the best ideas shall be included in the new Police doctrine.

“Though we have documents that govern our operations, they are outdated. So, this new development of the new doctrine shall also enable us to use it as part of the review of how we look at ourselves,” Golooba said.