Displaying items by tag: abuse of power

In many places, police not only fail to protect people in poverty from violence, but they are violent predators themselves. Millions of the most vulnerable people in the world live in fear of police who extort bribes and brutalise innocent citizens. This has increased during coronavirus curfews. In Kenya it is easy for a corrupt or incompetent police officer to falsely accuse and imprison or even kill an innocent person. As measures have been put in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus, there has been a spike in police abuse while enforcing the night curfew. The government’s independent policing oversight authority has documented at least 35 cases of police brutality in connection to the curfew enforcement, including twelve deaths. Other agencies report at least one death a night in the communities which the justice centres monitor.