Police have sent a strong warning to their own officers: wearing a police uniform does not give anyone a licence to use excessive force.
Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke says officers who break the rules governing the use of force must be held personally responsible for their actions.
His warning comes as investigations continue into the shooting of Ronald Juuko Kizito during the National Cleaning Day exercise at Ndejje.
Rusoke described the shooting as a regrettable incident that should never have happened, saying Police is determined to establish exactly what happened and ensure that the deceased gets justice.
He said the officer identified as PC Ogwal Allan involved is already in custody because Police believes, at this preliminary stage, that the force used was not proportionate to the threat.
But Rusoke was careful not to declare the officer guilty before court. He said Ogwal will get his chance to explain himself and defend his actions through the legal process.
According to Rusoke, police officers can use force, including firearms, but there are rules. The force must match the threat.
If the threat is low, an officer cannot respond with excessive force simply because he has a gun or other authority.
Rusoke said the use of force must also be legitimate and the officer must be able to explain and account for why it was necessary.
That, he said, is the standard Police officers are expected to follow.
And when an officer breaks that code, Rusoke says the Police Force must not protect him simply because he is one of their own.
Instead, the officer must face the consequences. Rusoke said Police officers are guided by both international standards and Uganda’s own laws and professional regulations on the use of force.
He said the Ndejje shooting is now being examined against those standards. At the same time, Rusoke defended the need for police intervention during the National Cleaning Day exercise.
He said officers were not sent out to simply brutalise people. They were briefed and instructed to use minimum force and engage members of the public as much as possible.
But Rusoke said enforcement was also necessary because, despite the massive participation of Ugandans in the cleaning exercise, there would always be a few people who refused to follow the directive.
Without some level of enforcement, he argued, the entire exercise could be undermined by a small number of people.
The problem, he said, is when an individual officer goes beyond the instructions given to him.
Rusoke compared this to other professions, saying every profession has rules and codes of conduct, but there will always be individuals who break them.
The answer, he said, is not to condemn the entire profession but to hold the individual offender accountable. For Police, that means an officer who crosses the line must be dealt with.
He said the Force’s position is therefore clear: condemn the misconduct and hold the officer accountable.
Rusoke also used the briefing to correct an earlier mistake over the name of the officer accused in the Ndejje shooting. He said the suspect is PC Ogwal, not Okello as previously communicated.
He apologised for the error and said the correct name would be reflected in Police records.
