Unmarked vehicles, fake plates: IPOA highlights barriers to identifying cops behind abductions

Appearing before the Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Security, IPOA CEO Elema Halake explained a trend where police officers conceal their identities, use unmarked vehicles and distort their number plates during operations. 

This, according to Halake, provides a challenge in trying to connect the officers with the said crimes. 

He added that IPOA was currently investigating two fatal cases and four cases of injuries that were linked to police officers. 

During the session, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) produced a report highlighting that 60 fatalities were recorded since the Gen Z protests that began on June 18, 2024. 

KNCHR noted that most of the victims were shot with live bullets during the protests, while others incurred injuries from blunt trauma. 

"The Commission documented 1,376 cases of arrests across the country during the demonstrations. The actual number may be higher given that the Commission had limited capacity to cover and verify all incidents," KNCHR commissioner Prof. Marion Mutugi said. 

She further added that officers often rounded up the protestors and forced them into the police vehicles before ferrying them to various stations. 

"The arrests were arbitrary and included children, who were charged in court with various offences and detained in prisons, contravening the Children's Act," she pointed out. 

IPOA has received criticism for being nonchalant in their investigation against officers, with questions raised over why no action has been taken against errant police officers, five months after the protests.