The situation in Kenya mirrors the state of policing in Ghana, a former Britsih colony. In an article published in the International Journal of Police Science & Management, scholars Francis D. Boateng and Isaac Nortey Darko, explored the effects of colonialism on policing in Ghana. In their study, the scholars identify similarities in policing in the colonial times and in the contemporary police force in Ghana.

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Just like in Ghana, formerly the Gold Coast, the police force in Kenya is a direct creation of the British colonial powers that employed paramilitary tactics to suppress opposition, coerce labour and protect the political and economic interests of the imperial power. This is coupled with continuous harassment and disrespect of fundamental human rights of innocent citizens.

“The police continue to use repressive measures and other paramilitary tactics in discharging their civil mandates. Criminal and non-criminal suspects are constantly being beaten and tortured during interrogations,” indicated the article.

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The authors suggest that one way to boost police legitimacy is for the police to untangle themselves from the past. Both countries are grappling with a police culture characterized with corruption, violation of human rights, use of excessive force on innocent civilians, inefficiently and an unaccountable service.

 

The police have been accused of being elitist in nature, failing to serve and protect the interests of the poor in the society. As a low income country, most Kenyans struggle to cover their basic needs, making them vulnerable groups and easy targets for the police. In enforcing the curfew, the poor bore the brunt of police brutality.

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A report compiled by the World Organisation against Torture demonstrates the extensive violence deriving from deep poverty and inequality in Kenya. The findings of the report are consistent with what the country witnessed in the enforcement of the curfew.

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Although colonialism provides great insight into the violent policing culture, the victimization of the poor, we must also shift our focus to police training and their knowledge base.

Recent studies have shown that public order policing is shifting from brutal policing to soft policing but that shift has not been witnessed in Kenya.

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The application of mob psychology in nearly every policing situation may result in the use of force even in unjustified situations. The police have for decades had a one size fits all mentality in their approach to public order instead of handling each situation independently.

According to Stella Cherono, the South Rift Regional Editor and Crime reporter, the police knowledge on group dynamics in the country is limited contributing to the use of force in unjustified situations.

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“The Kenya police officer is not trained on Human Rights and they are never briefed well on what they need to do,” she noted. She added that they approach their work with lots of lethargy because there’s no motivation.

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As witnessed in most protests in the country, police intervention has resulted in the escalation of chaos rather than pacify the tension. This points to an assertion that the only way a crowd can be contained is through violence containment.

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In dealing with crowds, a Kenya police officer holds the classic theory on crowd psychology that argues that an individual loses his personality when in a crowd and the collective crowd mind dominates resulting in collective action.

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Prof Clifford Stott, a researcher in Public order policing, found there was a strong relationship between police theoretical knowledge on crowd psychology and the use of excessive force to contain crowds. The scholar has suggested new approaches to crowd psychology that boost policing without force.

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"… much of the conflict we witnessed in our research was brought about by particularly aggressive forms of policing that set in motion dynamics of escalation in a crowd, creating the psychology of a riot," he said in a past interview.

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Scholars acknowledge that a few individuals in a crowd could be hostile but this should not be translated to mean that the entire crowd is deviant and therefore justify mass containment. But holding the classic view of a crowd being inherently violent leads to the use of repressive tactics which only escalate the public disorder and increase damage. As a result, even those who were peaceful and did not pose any danger are caught up in the clamp down.

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This has a spiral effect on the relationship between the citizens and the police, brewing public distrust in the police, a common trend in Kenya. When a police officer beats an innocent civilian, the victims feel betrayed by the same authority put in place to protect them from such harm.

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As a result, citizens have less trust working with the police which would help in isolating those inciting the crowd to violence and ensure peaceful gatherings. For instance, police officers at the channel revealed that impatient ferry users pelted stones against them forcing them to strike. This argument underpins the logic of mob psychology applied by police officers in such situations.

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Prof Stott research underscores the need for governments to update police education relating to understanding group dynamics to pave the way for tolerant negotiated management of the public order. There is a relationship between police theoretical understanding of crowd psychology and their strategic and tactical orientation, the study underpinned.