President William Ruto has relaunched the dreaded Flying Squad killer police unit following a spate of robberies, burglaries, murders and other runaway crimes that threatened the peace of major towns.
“President William Ruto has deployed officers from (General Service Unit) GSU and Rapid Deployment unit (RDU) to tackle the rising cases of insecurity in Nairobi. The deployment involves uniformed and officers in civilian clothes,” online sources broke the news.
Flying Squad is the general term for police officers from different units especially GSU and Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) officers who often are called upon to fight hardcore criminals.
In President Moi’s time, they were known as Special Branch, then Flying Squad.
During President Kibaki’s tenure, they morphed into the Kwekwe squad.
The fourth President Uhuru Kenyatta had the Special Services Unit (SSU) whose officers are now in court to answer to charges of murdering William Ruto’s election consultants.
Ruto promised to end extrajudicial killings but the latest about-turn is what he has become well-known for. Most of his election promises are in shambles.
In the reconstitution of the ‘flying squad’, already some criminals have lost their lives.
ARMED ROBBER FATALLY WOUNDED AS POLICE INTENSIFY CRACKDOWN ON CRIMINAL GANGS
An armed thug was shot dead last night in Thika town and mobile phones suspected to have been stolen from innocent victims recovered, as police intensify a crackdown against criminals & criminal gangs. pic.twitter.com/7Ty7GOIcOn
— DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) November 16, 2022
There are always other units within the police service to fight different crimes. But the overarching and most lethal ones that act extrajudicially are usually disbanded and reconstituted after a new regime takes over.
Hessy wa Kayole and Hessy wa Dandora
Nairobians have stories about loan police officers who are known to be cold-blooded killers.
They are tough crime busters who rid the streets of dangerous criminals, mostly repeat offenders.
In the UhuRuto regime, the name Hessy became synonymous with them.
“They are being investigated for the offences of conspiracy to commit a felony contrary to Section 393 of the Penal Code and abduction contrary to Section 254 of the Penal Code,” the notice by the police on the arrest of SSU officers said.
It was necessary due to the rise of criminal gangs such as Gaza, who are hard to arrest and prosecute to fruition due to most of them being bastards of top politicians who hide their baby mamas in Eastlands and environs.
So, Hessy would just shoot to kill because if they took those to court, the cases usually flop.
The gangs engage in drug dealing, petty burglary and muggings.