Kayihura defends Crime Preventers

If Wilson Erinayo Oryema, Uganda's first African Inspector General of Police (IGP) was to come back today, he would find Uganda Police Force (UPF), an institution he led with distinction very different from one that he served.

The traditional roles of police have not changed much since Oryema's days as IGP in 1971 but the police today face immense challenges which have required those in charge to think outside the box for solutions.

And one such solution to the problem of police being thin on the ground is the introduction of crime preventers - citizens who work in tandem with police in their communities to nip crime in the bud.

Probably, Oryema would be intrigued and as a result ask for a quick tutorial of who crime preventers are and their role in policing in Uganda today.

"I admit that the whole idea of crime preventers has some rough edges just is it is with all institutions. But to say that crime preventers are a problem is something I don't agree. We have eleven million crime preventers, if they were fanning crime as many people allege, Uganda would be on fire," IGP, Kale Kayihura said during Oryema's annual memorial lecture at Makerere University on Saturday.

Held under the theme: "Police is the public and public is the police, fostering community policing in Uganda," the memorial lecture was graced by police's top echelon, Oryema's family members,  a number of dons, crime preventers and representatives of human rights organizations.

Renowned researcher and former acting executive director Makerere Institute of Social Research, Dr. Golooba Mutebi, presented the main paper about the theme which was discussed by Dr. Hellen Nkabala.

In his paper, Golooba highlighted the challenges of fostering community policing saying Uganda should pick a leaf from other jurisdictions where people who engage in community policing as volunteers have regular jobs.

"How do you sustain community policing on volunteerism? This issue needs to be addressed soberly," Golooba noted.

In the ensuing plenary debate, a number of advocates and human rights activists slated crime preventers for allegedly sullying the image of police through beating up members of the public and extortion.

"Crime preventers are a value addition and the advantages of retaining them far outweighs the risk they pose," Kayihura said.

In the run-up to the last elections, the opposition demanded the disbandment of crime preventers on account of their alleged support for the ruling NRM and absence of legal framework under which they operate.

Despite not explicitly providing for crime preventers, the Police Act allows Police to work with auxiliary forces.

On the issue of police being a neutral force, Golooba rooted for consensus building saying the current political environment which is quite adversarial implicitly has an impact on the image of police.

Born on 1^st January 1917, Oryema enlisted into UPF in March 1939 and by the time the sun set on the British Empire in 1962, he was Assistant Commissioner of police after stints of training in Israel, USA and Britain.

Oryema was murdered in February 1977 by Idi Amin's security forces together with then internal affairs minister, Oboth Ofumbi and Church of Uganda Archbishop, Janani Luwum.