CCTV Cameras should be installed in all police cells, I want to monitor their day to day activities myself – President Museveni
Following the opening of a new national CCTV cameras command centre yesterday, President Museveni has ordered the installation of cameras inside all police cells to be in a position to properly monitor officers who neglect their duties.
While speaking at the function, Museveni implied that police officers ought to use these cameras to sense danger earlier and not release the footage after incidents have already occurred.
In so doing Museveni requested that just like the police is monitoring whatever is going on in the country, he is also looking at the installation of these cameras in police territories to help him, in particular, to monitor and supervise their day to day roles.
“The police stations should have CCTV cameras as well. I need to monitor their response and how they are doing their work. I don’t want to monitor only criminals but also my group. I want to see what they are doing,” Museveni stated on Thursday 29th November while opening the new camera command centre.
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Museveni who also praised the security in the country said that the NRM government has made it a top priority and they are even more determined to take it to another level.
“With the little we so far have, we have achieved a lot. I don’t know why these people chose to use crime to discredit NRM? That was a wrong battleground because security is my constituency. This is just the beginning and we are going to tighten the noose.”
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Museveni however, advised that to achieve this then police officers have a huge role to play beginning with desisting from their old fashioned ways of catching criminals adding that this is a new era of technology and so they must be dedicated and adjust to being able to deal with circumstances.
“You (Police) were depending on human information and I said we must go modern. I said we could not go with old methods and that we should implement this project,” Museveni said.
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Museveni who also ordered that all police stations to always have accessible telephones daily with an almost quick response requested officers who feel they cannot serve the country with their full heart to resign from the duty.
Of recent, CCTV cameras have been used to show footage of incidents that have already happened notably, the earlier murder incidents of Col. Ibrahim Abiriga, Joan Kagezi, AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi and ASP Muhammad Kirumira.
In September this year following the killing of Maria Nagirinya and her driver Ronald Kitayimbwa, President Museveni rose to the occasion and demanded the immediate sacking of all Police Officers that were in charge of the camera command centre in Nateete for what he referred to as negligence of duties.
Still, after the same incident, Museveni said, these cameras were put in place to monitor incidents before they occur adding that in case they (officers) had applied them well they would be in a position to capture most of the criminals.
By John Dalton Kigozi
