Only in Kenya: Rent-a-real-cop

[aeichener]

You want attention? You are small and people overlook you? Nobody believes you are important? Banks don't do business with you, in spite of your brilliant plans? The girls let you pay their drinks in the club, only to wander off to the next table to hit on the nearest muzungu available?

Despair not. Remedy is near. The trustworthy Kenya Police is here to help you. Yes, YOU too.

For a modicum of a stipulated fee (and a few shillings aside) you can now rent your private force and proudly present yourself as the star you really are. Need splendor at the kindergarden harambee? You can get it. Want to outdo your rival? You have already won. Need a bank loan? Directors will woo for your attention. Impress the parents of that recently-defiled schoolgirl into humble submission?

Hire five armed cops and two inspectors to preside over them, for far less money than a good meal at the Stanley's. Here is the official price list:

* * *

Hiring Police Officers for Private Use

Police officers may be hired by private persons(s) for attenndance at function(s) or for any other private purpose, within the republic, and at the expense of the applicant.

Application for the private use of police for any approved purpose should be on the prescribed form

Police may only be hired for private use subject to the exigencies of the service.
The Divisional Police Officer shall be the sole judge of whether a sufficient number of police have been applied for and he/she may refuse to authorize such hire if agreement as to the number to be hired cannot be reached with the applicant.

Recommended Rates for Hire of Police for Private Use.

(A) Armed officers for a period not exceeding eight hours but not less than four hours.

POLICE OFFICERS
RECOMMENDED RATES.(Ksh)
Inspector (I.P)
500.00
Senior Sergeant (S/S.G.T)
375.00
Corporal (C.P.L)
300.00
Constable (P.C)
225.00


(B) For a period not exceeding four hours or part thereof.

POLICE OFFICERS
RECOMMENDED RATES.(Ksh)
Inspector (I.P)
250.00
Senior Sergeant (S/S.G.T)
200.00
Corporal (C.P.L)
200.00
Constable (P.C)
100.00


(C) Unarmed officers per hour.

POLICE OFFICERS
RECOMMENDED RATES.(Ksh)
Inspector (I.P)
250.00
Senior Sergeant (S/S.G.T)
200.00
Sergeant (S.G.T)
150.00
Corporal (C.P.L)
125.00
Constable (P.C)
100.00


(D) Hire of police 999 Patrol cars per hour or part thereof - Kshs. 4,500.00

* * *

And now hurry up, lest your rival snatches the askaris before, and shows off against you. BOOK NOW !

Alexander

[kamalet]

Alexander,

The sad bit is that this is after the second increase in charges in 3 years.....Ali has made his mboys rather expensive lately ;D

[50cents]

This country is doing very well and just one thing though, who will protect the poor guy who doesnt have the cash to afford one. Talking of our priorities gone wrong. Shouldn't the police force concentrate on the provision of public services (maintain law and order) in deprived areas like northeastern, kayole, just to mention a few.

I dont know but this is not a well thought out idea. Everyone in the country should be equally protected and let the force leave such ventures to private organisations. We pay for their up keep and they should just concentrate doing that.

[museveni]

A good way for the force to raise money. I hope it will be put to good use.

[roughrider]

This is a terrible idea.

Security is a public good - it is the reason you and i pay taxes. Politicians like to call it 'law and order'... If you have to 'hire' police then that is double taxation.

[50cents]

@roughrider
You can now realise why kenya is going down. A simple logic that a 5-year old would can see cant be seen by an 18-year old plus. Gosh!! The Police should fully concentrate on the provision of public services and not in using public funds to venture into stupid business.

@museveni
What on earth has gone wrong today?? Not you of all the people

[KOLONEL BRISK]

IT IS A WORLD WIDE PRACTICE.

A police escort rushed Red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli from Logan Airport to Fenway Park on Monday. Mirabelli, who had been traded to Boston shortly before Monday night's game, took the field less than 25 minutes later. Sometime back, a police detail in Edmonton, Alberta, met Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard at the airport and rushed him to the game. How do you get a police escort?

Call up the state troopers and ask for one. Professional sports teams hire uniformed police officers to make sure they can get players to and from airports or hotels without a problem. Construction companies make a habit of paying "extra-duty" officers to escort large trucks or control traffic around work sites. Even regular Joes like you and the Aeichener can request a police detail if they have a good enough reason. (Police departments often grant escorts for private funeral processions, for example.)

Before you send in your application form, keep in mind that extra-duty cops don't come cheap. If the extra-duty office approves your request, you'll probably have to pay $30 or $40 an hour for each officer, plus an added fee for the use of police cruisers. (There's often a four-hour minimum, and last-minute or holiday orders garner a premium rate.) The department assigns the well-paid bonus hours to its officers on a rotating schedule after taking out a few dollars per hour for administration.

Departments that lack a system for assigning extra-duty work might be willing to improvise. When USC and Notre Dame requested police escorts for games at Brigham Young, the local Utah County Sheriff's Office was happy to oblige. "We've never done it before," one official told the Associated Press. "But, hey, if they want to pay us to do this, we'll take the money."

Police officers keep all their law-enforcement powers while on extra duty, but they're only allowed to exercise them in a way that's consistent with the mission of promoting public safety. That means you may be on shaky ground if you ask your rent-a-cop to put on the siren and high-tail it to the ballpark. (Some city governments have tried to ban the use of marked cruisers with sirens for extra-duty work.)

Since his appointment by the state Labor government as New South Wales (NSW) Australia, police minister, former trade union leader Michael Costa unveiled a series of measures to bolster the 14,000-strong state police force. They include a 12-week trial allowing private companies to hire uniformed police for security work, the shortening of police training courses to speed up recruitment and a major restructuring to boost operational numbers by over 800 officers.

The most far-reaching of these initiatives is the “police for hire” trial. Shopping mall owners, retail outlets and other government-approved businesses will be able to rent off-duty police officers, fully armed with service revolvers, batons, radios and other equipment. The officers will have the same power to stop, question, detain and arrest people as if working on a normal police roster. They will not be employed directly by the businesses involved. Rather, the companies will pay the NSW Police, which will pay the officers’ wages and pocket a commission.

Numerous political and legal questions are raised by the scheme. Rules against “moonlighting” were adopted for two major reasons—to ensure that second jobs did not affect the physical and mental performance of normal police duty and to preserve the façade of an arms-length relationship between major companies and the police. Costa’s proposal threatens to undermine the carefully-cultivated fiction that the police operate as a neutral force and that everyone is “equal before the law”. What will happen to police “neutrality” if conflicts arise between their hirers and ordinary citizens or a rival business? What happens if hired police are confronted with a major accident, serious assault or murder outside their place of employment? Do they leave the premises to attend the crime or remain on the job? Who has final jurisdiction over the officers’ actions—the company hiring them, or police operations command?