By Charity Akullo.

Lira

The leadership of the Uganda police force (UPF) has continued to raise concern over lack of enough man power which they say is affecting the institution terribly making their work difficult which in turn is crippling service delivery. The concern was made by the Deputy inspector general of police Maj Gen Tumusiime Katsigazi (DIGP), during his regional tour in the Lango sub-region to assess the security situation and the welfare of the police officers.

Maj Gen. Katsigazi told journalists on Thursday at Pauline hotel in Lira City that the problem can be addressed if the government accepts to recruit more personnel to enable the institution to effectively handle its operation. “We still appeal to the government to allow us recruit because the demands for police are immense and we need more. This region has limited force we have already been discussing with my officers here,” he added.

According to Katsigazi, the challenge of few personnel comprising of the traffic police, officers in charge of investigations, among others is not only in Lango Sub-Region but the country at large. “That’s why we have discussed within the budget framework to ensure that we recruit more police officers. The government is trying to see how they can give us more resources,” he explained. Maj Gen Katsigazi who started his regional tour by visiting Lira police barracks and the regional police headquarters in Erute North noted that there are also still challenges with the police`s facilities.

SP Jimmy Patrick Okema,the North Kyoga Regional police spokesperson said the international standards of investigations requires one officer in Charge of Criminal Investigations (CID officer) to handle  12 cases but due to the limited manpower, they are being overwhelmed. “If you look at the international standards one police officer should handle 500 people,I think ours is beyond. We have one police officer handling clause to 800 or 900 people which is also beyond the international standards,” he wondered.

Okema said the strategic leadership in their plans should ensure that the institution recruits more personnel within other departments like traffic, general duties, field force police among others to bridge that gap. “The top leadership should do all that it takes to see that resources are obtained and more recruitment are made to bridge that gap,” he added.

According to the 2022 Uganda police force annual crime report indicates that there was an 18% increase in the number of crimes reported to Police from 196,081 cases reported in 2021 to 231,653 in 2022. Out of the total cases reported to Police in 2022, 68,405 cases were taken to Court, 26,749 cases were not proceeded with, while 136,499 cases were still under inquiry. This was an improvement compared to 2021 where 65,008 cases were taken to Court, 60,095 cases not proceeded with and 70,978 cases under inquiries. This reflects a great improvement in cases taken to Court by 5.2%.

COVER PHOTO: Inset Deputy inspectorate general of police Maj Gen Tumusiime Katsigazi (DIGP) interacts with other police officers at Lira police barracks on April,27,2023 PHOTO BY CHARITY AKULLO