Top cop who disarmed thug of pistols awarded
A brave Administration Police officer who wrestled a thug who was armed with two pistols and disarmed him was has been feted by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) as an outstanding performer.
Chief Inspector Alphonse Nzova Mulinge, the AP Commandant for Viwandani, was captured in a widely viewed video by Daily Nation’s Sammy Kimatu last year, as he wrestled the suspect to the ground and disarmed him before two other officers joined him.
“We had received information from the public that the suspect and others were planning to rob a business premise along Lunga Lunga Road in Industrial Area,” Mulinge is recorded saying in the video.
He said the officers strategically placed themselves in different parts of the street while clad in plain clothes.
“When I spotted him, he did not want to surrender and since he was armed, I had to use force and bring him down,” the officer recalled on Thursday after the award.
In the video, titled ‘Drama as armed gangster arrested in Industrial Area’, Mr Mulinge is seen approaching the suspect and holding him by the collar.
When the suspect realizes that he has been arrested by a police officer, he pleads with the cop to let him go as he reaches out for one of the two guns he had at the back of his trousers.
RECEIVED RECOGNITION
Shaken, he reaches out for one of the pistols, a Ceska that was wrapped in a black polythene bag but the officer manages to hit it and it drops to the ground.
Two officers approach the scene, seize the two guns and arrest the suspect who is taken to the police station.
Mr Mulinge was among 40 officers who received recognition for outstanding performances in the Police Service.
Administration Police Spokesperson, Masoud Mwinyi termed Chief Inspector Mulinge’s job that day as an example of how officers risk their lives to ensure that the public is safe.
“The officer, despite being in risky situation, managed to disarm the suspect. Who knows how many people would have been killed or injured by the suspect with those guns?” Mr Mwinyi posed.
C.I Mulinge said the suspect has since been charged in court and that his arrest that day led to the arrest of multiple armed suspects.
“That is what we undergo daily. This single incidence captured the attention simply because it was captured by the media. There are several other things police go through,” he said.
NEW POLICING STANDARDS
The awards dubbed the ‘Outstanding Police Service Awards’ ceremony were held at the Railways Club in Nairobi.
IPOA chairman Macharia Njeru said the awards were not meant to create a rift within the Service or competition amongst the NPS but to improve on the standards of competence, integrity, accountability, dignity, discipline and professionalism with respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for the police officers as well as to the members of the public.
“The nominations of the best individual police officer, the best detention facility, the best facility in terms of order and cleanliness, and the best in community policing were done by members of the public and are also meant to foster and promote good working relationships and partnerships with the broader society,” Mr Njeru said.
He said IPOA will be exploring opportunities towards sustainability of the awards which he said will set new policing standards where the public will be playing a crucial role in ensuring that quality policing services are rendered.
In a speech read on his behalf, Interior Cabinet Secretary, Joseph Nkaiserry said he would strengthen community policing and ensure that the police are not always victimized.
“Kenya’s economic and social development, will largely depend on how security issues are addressed, with keen attention on the challenges the police are also facing,” Nkaiserry said.
The Cabinet Secretary cited transport, resource allocation to the policing services, lack of modern communication equipment, police welfare concerns such as housing, shortage of human resource in the service and low levels of allowances as some of the challenges that the police forces faces.