Kisii County has one of the highest police-assisted crimes, a report by the National Human Rights Commission in western Kenya has revealed.
Police in the county are on the spot for abetting armed robberies, physical assault and murder. They are also accused of unprofessionalism in conducting investigations.
Kisumu was also named as one of the areas where police are accused of using excessive force.
Residents of Kondele and Manyatta estates in Kisumu were named as the leading victims of police brutality.
“The police in Kisumu are trigger-happy, unprofessional and brutal in their dealings with the local,” read part of the report on crime research done in Kisumu town, Kisii, Muhoroni-Nandi and Kericho-Nyakach borders.
The Western Kenya Human Rights Network report on state of human rights cited an incident in Kisumu June this year where it was alleged that some administrative police officers raided a hall where some football fans were watching a World Cup match and shot dead a man who did not provoke them.
Police involvement in crime was blamed on long service in the areas, hence collusion with locals.
In the border regions, western Kenya recorded increased crime and violence cases according to the report.
It is also said cattle rustling across the three county borders was responsible for the death of seven people, destruction of 57 houses and displacement of 2,516 residents between February and March.
Here, security agencies were accused of bias in handling the conflict, thereby fuelling it. “Intervention by the State to prevent the violence and assist victims was inadequate,” stated the report.
Generally, crime in Kisumu and neighbouring counties took the forms of armed robbery, physical assault, rape and defilement, drug trafficking, murder, theft and child pornography.
Insecurity was attributed to unemployment, poverty and marginalisation, biased distribution of resources, police inaction and collusion with criminal gangs.