Preaching Water, Drinking Wine
The words police and brutality, have always interestingly gone well hand in hand, and despite all the police departments slogans you could get worldwide such as “Utumishi kwa Wote” which loosely translates to “Service to All” to Nigeria’s “The Police is Your Friend” and Philippine’s “To Serve and to Protect”, all these police forces have mentioned one thing in common—the fact that they all have been notorious for doing the exact opposite.
Tracing back to March 2020, when Kenyan Police killed a 13-year old Yasin Mohammed at his residence in Nairobi, as they were chasing people to their homes during the curfew period, to the killing of Baby Pendo during the 2017 post-election violence in Kisumu. These among other several atrocious murders and other several injuries that have been inflicted has continued to show the increased worrying trend by the Kenyan Police, who have seemed to continuously inherit the policing culture of the colonial period, which again so thousands of people losing their lives as a result.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) has on several occasions, proved to be very inefficient in following up on cases of police indiscipline, with 5,940 cases on their hands, only 6 had been investigated, some dating as far as 2017. However IPOA sights poor witness turnouts as a result of threats and intimidation among other reasons as the main factor of the poor follow through of the cases. And as many of the victims of police brutality continue to fight to seek justice, their hopes slowly fade away as a result of the continuous corruption in the system, which enables rogue police officers to be protected.
Therefore to understand the rampant police brutality, from killing of civilians, to maiming them to the point of paralysis, to the constant intimidation and threats, we need to approach this crucial issue from a unique point of view and hopefully may help to seek to understand the culture of the police force, the community it serves and try to merge both of the factors together.
(C) Nation Media Group
Understanding “Instant Punishments”
Friday 31st March 2017, on the busy street of Nairobi’s Eastleigh district, two unarmed teenagers were killed in broad daylight by policemen who claimed to be part of a gang which was terrorizing citizens. The officers act, which went viral shortly through a YouTube Video, sparked mixed reactions from several Kenyans and the Eastleigh community as a whole, as the communities commended the officers for neutralizing the teenagers while others condemned the officers for taking the law on their hands. These highly contrasting opinions further sparked the discussion whether an officer is allowed to take away the life of a civilian. From those who praised the act, they claimed that the gang had continuously terrorized the community and made lives for the residents unbearable and thus as a result of the murder, it would serve as a “lesson” to the rest of the people involved in criminal activities. This is because the Police Service enlisted over 90 criminal groups operating in various parts of Nairobi and further warned them of “extreme measures” that would be taken if they did not halt their illegal activities.
Majority of these gangs, mostly in lower-income neighborhoods such as Dandora, Kayole and other sections such as Kinoo have continuously increased, this is as majority of the people comprised in these criminal groups have no access to jobs, higher education or a daily bread that could sustain them to avoid them being involved in such activities. Therefore these gang-related activities have set off a knee-jerk reaction from the police force to commit executions of people suspected to be part of these organizations, often covering their activities as “counterterrorism” measures. The Police’s operations have however bore a chain of unfortunate events, which has seen innocent civilians being victims of extrajudicial murders.
According to the Kenyan constitution, a Security Personnel is only allowed to take away the life of an individual if they are in a situation where they have to defend themselves. However, contrary to all the cases of police murders, most of these murders could’ve portrayed a different situation, where victims were unarmed, and were either hiding from the brutality of the uniformed officers. We shall take the instance of Khamisi Juma, who was brutally beaten to death by police officers who were enforcing the COVID-19 curfew rule in March 2020. Khamisi was a bodaboda rider who was rushing an expectant lady to the hospital and during his returned trip he was stopped by these officers where he met his death. Clearly from the narration, the officers were not in a life-threatening situation nor was Khamisi armed, however they still ended up taking the law into their hands instead of arresting him.
These events openly portray the complete dysfunction of the police system and how it tackles cases of law breaking. Most of these scenarios witnessed could have easily resulted to the arrest of these individuals and have them face the judicial system for the wrongs that they did, however that’s not the case since the judicial system further faces an issue of backlogs of cases, which further results to the loss of hope for it and resulting to officers issuing “instant punishments''. From the gruesome beatings that face people who do not follow their orders, to the intimidation and threats given to impose fear to the civilians, all these activities could be discussed all day, however the fact remains that, there’s a culture here that has been developed and needs to be looked through.
Science-backed Explanation
A scientific experiment done by Milgram (1963) probed into the conditions of obedience and how far a person would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person. Milgram’s findings showed that the human moral sense is affected by external pressures. That is, people are more likely to be influenced (1) if a figure of authority is in proximity, (2) if the person who may inadvertently harm another feels that they could pass the responsibility (of harming a person) to others and (3) if the event took place under the auspices of a respected authority or organization (Encina, 2004). Similarly, we could understand how and why police authorities may be succumbed to this type of systemic brutality. The police force is very structured such that those in the low ranks may likely to follow the commands, albeit inequitable and unlawful, of their superordinates even though these were not something that they principally hold as their convictions.
Cultural Point of View
Kenya being a closed society in general, where communities are often unified, cultural and religious beliefs followed to the highest principle, and continuously passed on from generation to generation, it forms as a very easy starting point to analyze the trends of the nation. Majority of children born and raised in Kenya, and raised in the believed “African way” have always been adapted to the principle of “obey your leaders, do not question the authority that beholds”, or “never argue with your elders if you want your blessings” and this essential value of respect and obedience was carried on and used to take advantage of citizens of the nation by ruling government. Such that you couldn’t question what was running in the highest body of the country, and that whenever you questioned them or protested against them, you were easily caught up by police officers who sent you to a cell and had you tortured for several hours and even days before being released as a “replenished soul”. That was the order of the day in the 20th century (and is somehow still is to this day) the culture has been carried on.
In the 21st-century context and 2020 to be more specific, it’s been quite relative that the police officers beat civilians on the road or anywhere else they get the opportunity to. Take a scenario in Nyeri county in Central Kenya, where police officers beat up youth who did not adhere to COVID-19 protocols such as wearing masks and social distancing, and in a carefully calculated strategy which was coordinated with the local chiefs, saw many youths “controlled” and kept from loitering in the streets, a move which was highly commended by the locals as they believed that “they needed to be disciplined by the higher body so that they can be better citizens next time”. This was a move which was equally witnessed in the majority of communities in Kenya where policing is an integral part of the system.
Therefore as seen, this culture of where the police continuously brutalize its citizens has been widely accepted for a very long time, as it is believed that it directly instills fear to the citizens and therefore pulls them to act in an orderly manner. This method of bringing law and order has worked for a long time over the decades, as places which were believed to be uninhabitable have become habitable, towns have grown steadily as a result of increased security and more criminals have continued to reform as a result of community policing. However, it’s suitability and effects it brings to its victims continues to question the validity of their acts. This is as with the growing campaign for respect of human rights, access to the judicial system which is free and fair and the role of civil rights organizations and the media, the “instant discipline” acts have continuously been brought to the table and calls for justice and reforms in the police sector have been widely called upon.
And this is where the challenge comes in, the fact that when police are seen executing their actions to citizens they have caught up with, it would be easily looked over and seen that the police is doing their role in the community and when a civilian is killed, it is claimed to be “as a punishment for their evils” when in the actual context, it would be interpreted as an officer violating the human rights of the individual and committing an atrocious crime of murdering an innocent “until proven guilty” civilian. This fine edge is what is needed to be addressed, both on the community level, as well as the Police Force, however it could be easily believed still that the officers deliberately perform these acts, as majority of them (if not all) during Police Training, are taught the Kenyan Constitution, which equally covers the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as go through the Police Protocol which advocates for maintaining law and order through synergizing with the Judicial System to ensure equality in the whole process. Therefore at the end of the tunnel, some of these actions portrayed by them are utterly not justifiable.
This has directly prompted the Inspector General of Police of Kenya, Hillary Mutyambai to begin campaigns such as running social media accounts which actively listen to the citizens complaints, a bid which he claims, will involve the citizens in the process of police reforms and increase the trust amongst the citizens and the police and this further promoted the President of the Republic to apologize to the Kenyan Citizens concerning the “excessive force” used by the police and promised more calm and restrain by the officers on duty.
However this is not enough, we first need to see a judicial system that is directly able to follow through cases of Police Indisciplines such as murder, bribery and physical assault and be able to further follow up on these cases and be able to provide justice for the victims’ families, even if it means recreating a special counsel that can be able to effectively listen to these cases. Because justice is not only a simple verdict given at a courtroom, this is a statement of satisfaction, the kind that can end days and years of agony, desperation, regret and anger of families left behind and further gives them closure. There always lies an important connection between an effective judicial system, Police Force training, and a constitution which is made understood to the law enforcement officers.
That’s why as much as culture can play a role in the behavior of the uniformed officers, it still does not give permission to erode off the dignity of a human being, who is taught to believe in these officers to protect them. Therefore there also needs to be a culture change, enable the community and the local police force as a whole, understand the laws of the land, such that they can be able to be held accountable to each other, because the constitution is the bonafide document that represents all cultures, interests and policies that can single handedly, hold everyone accountable for their actions as per the laws of the country. And as they say, knowledge is power, civic education is a very essential tool to the reforms of the long "crooked" system, and just as the Kenyan constitution and culture dictates, all human beings, all Kenyans are equal regardless of their tribe, culture, background and socio-economic status, thus must be treated equally.
Photo Courtesy of Raffy Lerma/Inquirer
Socio-economic Motivations
To look at the causes of police brutality in developing countries is to look through the different lens of poverty, homelessness, sex work, war on drugs, and other problems in society that may result to crimes. According to the book of Alex Vitale (2017) that scrutinized various ways of policing, the poor and the homeless people are usually more susceptible to arrests as they are seen as “sources of disorder”. Furthermore, because some opportunities—access to proper healthcare services, less means of finding employment, lesser means of finding ways to sustain their daily living needs—were not made available to these people, they become more vulnerable to committing anti-social offenses. Faced with threats of insecurity in various aspects, the reaction of people in poorer communities may exhibit attitudes that perpetuate criminality (Jocano, 1977).
Apart from these motivations of the vulnerable populace, the police force in developing countries may seemingly have motivations that would prod them into doing what is considered part of systemic and systematic brutality. For instance, the drug war of the Philippines instituted during Duterte’s present regime has claimed many lives in only a span of months of Duterte’s presidency. The investigation of Amnesty International entitled “If you are poor you are killed”: Extrajudicial Executions in the Philippines’ War on Drugs'' found out that apart from planting “evidence”, recruiting paid killers, and stealing from the people that they kill, some of the police officers involved on the war-on-drugs described how the police are paid per “encounter”. The amount may range from 8000 Philippine pesos (roughly about 161 US dollars) up to 15,000 Philippine pesos (about 302 US dollars). The “headquarters'' pay these police officers in cash secretly after killing an alleged drug pusher. The pay, according to the senior police officer interviewed by Amnesty International, is per head and arresting these people (instead of bringing their cold, dead bodies) does not merit any “incentive”. Thus, we see here how money also plays as the greatest motivator to the extrajudicial killings masked as legitimate police operations.
Hapal and Jensen (2018) in their study “Police Violence and Corruption in the Philippines: Violent Exchange and War on Drugs” also collected narratives about the extrajudicial killings in the Philippines and the motivations that led to these events. An alleged drug user recalled that to escape from the situation of encounters, some of them paid police officers (called the “price of survival” by Hapal and Jensen). This is because the amounts linked to one killed person have become significantly lower than the amounts since the start of the war on drugs.
To explain the phenomenon of police brutality further, we also look into the social dynamics of police-citizen encounters. According to Donald Black’s sociological theory of law that holds that the “quantity of law is influenced by the social attributes of concerned parties—victims and suspects, or plaintiffs and defendants, as well as the agents of social control themselves”, police officers are more likely to take action on cases when a person with a higher status accuses those of the low status rather than the other way around. As such, we may see how the demographics that got more affected and compromised during the Philippines’ war on drugs are those in lower socioeconomic status—particularly the drug users and small drug pushers. Rarely did we see the large drug moguls and high-profile drug personalities being arrested, charged of their crimes, or even killed. It is usually the people in poorer communities that bore the brunt of the costly war on drugs.
Police Brutality in Developing Countries Summarized
The causes of police brutality are rooted in a multifaceted ills of society. Addressing this issue does not only require the re-organization of the police force and the system in which they function in and with, but also a massive modification of a society—one that exerts efforts with its citizens to solve the rampant dilemmas. Conciliation and rebuilding of relationships between the police and the citizens remains to be a gradual process that needs to be given the attention it deserves. The moment that we are ready to accept these realities, the beginning of the road to conciliation can then be fulfilled. And the day the police forces will begin to live up to their mottos and be able to transform their reputation as “uniformed thugs” to “uniformed heroes” is when we will genuinely believe that reforms are taking place, however whether this will ever happen, only time will tell.
References:
Muraya, J. (2020, June 22). Police brutality, extortionist culture top queries in IG Mutyambai's inaugural live chat " Capital News. Retrieved September 25, 2020, from https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2020/06/police-brutality-extortionist-culture-top-queries-in-ig-mutyambais-inaugural-live-chat/
Reporter, C. (2020, March 30). Man who died after police beating had taken pregnant woman to hospital. Retrieved September 25, 2020, from https://citizentv.co.ke/news/man-who-died-after-police-beating-had-taken-pregnant-woman-to-hospital-328389/
Dahir, A., & Kuo, L. (2017, April 04). Kenyan police reportedly killed two teenagers in broad daylight-and much of the public approved. Retrieved September 25, 2020, from https://qz.com/africa/948491/kenyan-police-killed-two-teenagers-in-broad-daylight-in-eastleigh-and-much-of-the-public-approved/
Khalid, H. (2020, April 03). Yasin Moyo: Another innocent life lost through police bullet. Retrieved September 25, 2020, from https://www.the-star.co.ke/siasa/2020-04-03-yasin-moyo-another-innocent-life-lost-through-police-bullet/
Encina, G.B. (2004). Milgram’s Experiment on Obedience to Authority. Retrieved from https://nature.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/7article/article35.htm
Kokot, A. (2001). Stanley Milgram: Obedience at All Cost. Retrieved from https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~apkokot/pol116.html
Pascual, J. (2020, July 13). The shared culture of police brutality between the PH and US has a deeper history than you think. ABS-CBN News Channel. https://news.abs-cbn.com/ancx/culture/books/07/13/20/the-shared-culture-of-police-brutality-between-the-ph-and-us-has-a-deeper-history-than-you-think
Philippines: The police’s murderous war on the poor. (2017, January 31). Amnesty Internationa. Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/01/philippines-the-police-murderous-war-on-the-poor/
Amnesty International. (2017). Above the Law: Police Torture in the Philippines. (Index number: ASA 35/5517/2017). https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/5481a3ca4.pdf
Jensen, S. & Hapal, K. (2018). Police violence and corruption in the Philippines: Violent exchange and the war on drugs. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 37(2), 53-55. https://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jsaa/article/view/1126/1133.html
Maguire, E.R. & Duffee, D.E. (2015). Criminal Justice Theory: Explaining the Nature and Behavior of Criminal Justice. (pp. 150-151). New York, USA: Routledge. Retrieved from https://books.google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr=&id=VKqgBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA149&dq=economic+causes+of+police+brutality&ots=6BNfQCMgbZ&sig=XwSvFGF6XChfsZBtKj_jKb7Y1zo&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=economic%20causes%20of%20police%20brutality&f=false
Jocano, F.L. (1975). Slum as a Way of Life: A Study of Coping Behavior in an Urban Environment. Manila, Philippines: University of the Philippines Press.
Comments