- The officer of the rank of Chief Inspector was arrested for allegedly demanding bribes to release persons he had locked up in police cells from the previous day, on accusations of being drunk and disorderly.
- The arrest followed complaints by family members of those arrested by officers serving under the chief inspector.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Saturday evening arrested an OCS of a police station based in Njiru sub-county, Nairobi, for demanding a bribe.
The officer of the rank of Chief Inspector was arrested for allegedly demanding bribes to release persons he had locked up in police cells on accusations of being drunk and disorderly.
The arrest followed complaints by family members of those arrested by officers serving under the chief inspector.
EACC says the OCS raided a Club in Utawala during which an arbitrary arrest was allegedly conducted without any reasonable cause.
"The revellers were taken to police Station where they were put in police cells until the following day, Saturday, when the OCS ordered each of them to pay him a Sh5,000 bribe to be released unconditionally," EACC said.
"The OCS told the detainees that failure to pay the demanded amount would see each of them spend the entire weekend in police cells and face criminal charges of being drunk and disorderly, on Monday."
Upon verification of the claims, EACC says its detectives mounted an operation leading to the arrest of the OCS while he continued to receive the demanded bribes.
"The OCS was processed at Integrity Centre Police Station on Saturday and is currently detained at Kilimani Police Station awaiting further action in accordance with the law," EACC said.
CEO Twalib Mbarak while confirming the arrest expressed concern that the Commission continues to receive many complaints of this nature where Officers Commanding Police Stations (OCSs) are locking up citizens, especially young people, then demanding bribes from them as a condition for release from custody.
"We encourage the members of the public that whenever they face such kind of situation they alert the EACC. Then we will be able to work very closely with them so that we can arrest these bad elements within the police force to enhance justice," Mbarak said.
Urging police officers to desist from this unacceptable habit, Mbarak noted that in some cases, persons are reportedly put in police cells without being booked for any offence in the Occurrence Book (OB) and later compelled to pay bribes to freedom.
The CEO appreciated that citizens are increasingly reporting such cases of extortion by police to the EACC instead of succumbing to bribe demands and urged Kenyans to equally embrace the culture of obeying the law in all situations.
EACC is now going for police commanders who have been sending junior police officers to collect bribes on their behalf.
EACC says this is done through collection of youths from clubs who are to be locked up in cells for the sole purpose of extorting money from their families seeking to secure their release from custody through payment of bribe
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