From bank fraud to cyber crime, drug trafficking to terrorism, murder for passion or money to wildlife poaching and smuggling, criminals are increasingly using modern science, but the Uganda Police is still short of the required numbers of Scene of Crime Officers (Socos) to tackle those crimes well, says the Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura.
Speaking at the sidelines of an officer pass out in Jinja, Gen. Kayihura lamented about how the few forensics officers in that country ‘fail to assemble evidence to pin suspected criminals during prosecution’.
“Our officers in the Forensics directorate sometimes rush to the scenes of crime, make record statements from suspects without gathering evidence from scenes,” Gen. Kayihura on Tuesday said at the non commissioned officers academy (NCOA) Gadafi in Jinja district to pass out 500 officers.
It explains why many criminal cases are never resolved or investigations are bungled.
Kayihura further revealed that the Force is this year going to 2,000 Scene of Crime Officers (Socos) in various fields that include, crime scene and evidence photography, fingerprint development and recovery, footwear and tire track evidence, homicide and other death investigations like the investigation into Akena’s shooting
Only recently, the President criticised the police for relying on eyewitnesses to investigate crime in what he derisively referred to as “ani amulabye” (who saw the criminal?) policing. This underlined the fact that it is not enough to have competent police officers, Police also need technological tools to make them more efficient.
