By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Richard Moigbe has promised “credible” investigations into alleged killings involving officers of the Sierra Leone Police (SLP).
DIG Moigbe, who was speaking at a press briefing held at the SLP Headquarters in Freetown on Wednesday, said the alleged murders involving Police constables Osman Conteh and Mohamed Sultan Kargbo would be independently investigated by the CID.
Conteh stands accused of shooting to death Alimamy Kamara, while Kargbo allegedly murdered his 11-year old son.
DIG Moigbe said Conteh, attached to the Operations Support Division of the SLP, was not acting in his official capacity when he shot his victim at the Victoria Park in Freetown. He said both men had since been dismissed and were in police custody helping in the investigations.
‘’Police Constable Osman Conteh was not assigned to Victoria Park, but he acted on a frolic,’’ the DIG stated.
As a way of allaying fears of alleged police connivance with defaulters, he said henceforth serious crimes committed by police officers will be investigated by the newly established Independent Complaints Board, and not the SLP Complaints, Discipline and Internal Investigations Department (CDIID) which used to handled such matters.
“Although the CDIID was working very hard, people were making allegations that the department which has only police membership has the tendency to compromise with issues involving police officers who commit crimes against members of the public,’’ DIG Moigbe said. He appealed to the public not to condone police lawlessness but to report unlawful acts committed by police officers.
A press release dated 24th June 2015, which was read by the SLP Director of Corporate Services, Mustapha Solomon Campbell, assured that the police would always take swift action to investigate police officers who step out of the their mandate in the performance of their duties.
“Whenever an incident occurs in which a member of the public loses their life, the Sierra Leone Police swiftly addresses the issues involved...If it is the case that our officers have acted outside of their operational rules, procedures and mandates, we take very swift action to address such matters. We have a special unit within the force to which we encourage the public to make formal complaints against officers who tend to overstep their authority,” a portion of the document reads.
In a related development, the Director of Operations, Assistant Inspector-General Al-Shek Kamara, informed the press that the Sierra Leone Police had recorded a number of armed robberies in Freetown and Bo. Mr Kamara however referred to such armed robberies as ‘isolated incidents’ and said the police would do everything possible to nip them in the bud.
Despite these incidents of armed robberies and other related crimes, he said, Sierra Leone had been rated highly by the international community as one of the most stable countries in the world.
‘’Sierra Leone has been ranked the 56th stable country out of 162 countries in the world,” AIG Kamara explained. He said the yard sticks which were used to assess the stability of nations were the occurrence of upheavals, crime, and civil unrest, among others.
In his contribution, the Deputy Head of Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the SLP, Detective Assistant Superintendent of Police Gabriel Tommy, highlighted several cases that were being investigated by his department. Mr Tommy told the press that seven of the matters currently being investigated were homicide cases, pointing out the recent alleged murder of Steven Buckle aka DJ Clef, involving a local herbalist called Jina aka Lagbawai and few others who are in police custody.
Mr Tommy also informed the press that the post-mortem examination on the deceased had been done by the recognised pathologist, Dr Orwiss Koroma, and that the CID was awaiting the autopsy report.
As fresh information about the alleged murder unfolded, having to do with wrapped clothes on the deceased, Mr Tommy revealed, CID personnel and the pathologist revisited the cemetery and exhumed the remains of the deceased.
He stressed that the murder investigation of Steven Buckle was very important as it had attracted wide public attention.
(C) Politico 26/06/15
