Residents of Ojolla in Kisumu County have been cautioned against taking the law into their own hands as it as criminal offence.
According to area assistant chief Joseph Omollo, the locals have made a habit of subjecting criminals to mob justice, something that needs to stop since the suspects are yet to be proven guilty.
“Even if you have caught somebody red-handed in a criminal act, there is no law across the world that allows the public to beat up such people. We have systems that we can use to punish these offenders,” said Omollo.
Omollo speaking at the funeral of a local elder on Sunday was reacting to a series of mob justice incidents in the area that have occurred over the past one month.
Omollo said that those engaging in mob justice are criminals just as those whom they are beating up because in some cases, taking the law into owns hands is a bigger crime.
He warned the locals that the administration is going to crack the whip on mob justice perpetrators for them to face the law just like any other criminals.
He also took the opportunity to warn criminals that their time was up since together with the police they have identified notorious faces behind crime in the area.