Police Asked to Make PSU Known to Public

Following reports of extortion by canine police officers using fabricated charges, the Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda (ACCU) has tasked the Uganda Police Force (UPF) to make its Professional Standards Unit (PSU) known to the public.

ACCU’s Executive Director Marlon Agaba, in response to the current public outcry of canine police extortion using fabricated charges, said people have nowhere to report, a reason they have decided to ‘die’ in silence as the vice continues.

Agaba believes the advice of Police Spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke, that whoever has been extorted should report to PSU is based on the the assumption that the public is aware of PSU’s existence and duties.

Rusoke’s advice came after, many of the victims who have been extorted from money ranging from 500,000 shillings, to 700,000 shillings or sometimes over a million shillings, said their efforts to report to Officers in Charge of Stations (OCs), District Police Commanders (DPCs) or Regional Police Commanders (RPCs) were nothing but wasted efforts.

Rusoke insists that not every person in the chain of command in the areas where people have been extorted from by sniffer dog handlers has failed. Rusoke adds that if a victim of a police officer’s misconduct doesn’t report it, the force cannot know and therefore would have no means of intervening.

//cue in “because I’m not…

Cue out “…PSU it can happen”//

Musa Kanyike, who has extorted 700,000 shillings on accusations of stealing cassava tubers yet is one of the lead suppliers of cassava to schools in Buhweju district said his efforts to seek justice were in vain. He was blatantly told that he had no way out other than paying 700,000 shillings to regain his freedom.

Similarly, Innocent Tumwebaze, who has extorted 500,000 shillings also says he doesn’t know where to report and claims it has become a lucrative business for canine dog handlers to force sniffer dogs to pass through people courtyards or near homes and afterwards get accused of stealing items like cassava, matooke, and alcohol.

According to Agaba, people cannot be blamed for not reporting to an institution they do not know that it exists. Agaba said many people have rarely heard about PSU, its duties, and the actions it has taken in instances where a few members of the public have lodged complaints.

//cue in “not so many…

Cue out “…reporting or not”//

Agaba said the police force needs to make PSU duties known by trying culprits in the public as their military counterparts do. Also, people he says must see and feel that actions have been taken such as the dismissal, and demotion of errant police officers like the Army where soldiers who have committed crimes against civilians are tried, convicted and sentenced in the presence of the media or public.