Fire Problematic Police Officers

Judge Essie Schimming-Chase has rightly called on the government to take action against rogue police officers who abuse their power.

“For some reason, the individual perpetrators are allowed to disappear into the undergrowth and are not held accountable,” she said in a judgement this week involving retired major general Thomas Hamunyela, who sued the safety ministry over unlawful arrest and detention.

“The government agencies have a duty to weed out members who are guilty of such transgressions. It has become necessary that such displeasure and arbitrary action are meted out in the necessary sanction,” she said.

Judge Schimming-Chase said the court’s displeasure had already been raised in several similar cases involving “despicable conduct that should not be associated with a professional police force in a constitutional state”.

Time and again, police officers have used unnecessary force on suspects, even when there have been no clear signs of danger.

In some cases, it has ended in death.

In April this year, the police killed five robbery suspects in a shoot-out at Okahandja.

Last time we checked, the police officers were still on the job.

Police officers cannot be a law unto themselves. They have been entrusted with being enforcers of the law, and it is incumbent on them to exercise their duties responsibly and with care.