Fooling the Police for 24 months!
For two years a young man wore Police uniform and went about impersonating as an officer in the Western Area without real officers knowing. The fellow who goes by the name Desmond Leigh was no first offender as he had earlier been jailed for impersonating as a policeman. Luckily he benefitted from the traditional Presidential pardon and never completed his jail. A remorseful individual would have decided to come clean altogether, and settled down for an honest means of earning, but that was not Desmond. He returned to his old game and this time with some level of extra trickery to evade easy detection. And for 24 months he hustled big time with his Police uniform picking out drivers and other people as prey for his loot. That guy has guts to put on uniform with the rank of an Inspector and we just wonder at the number of officers who would have saluted him! Hahaha! His favourite haunt was said to be Waterloo and surrounding communities. Well he probably eyed the Rutile Area as fertile ground for his crooked ways and forged a transfer memo with the equally fake signature of the police director of Human resource. At Rutile his cover was blown open by the transfer letter. Few weeks ago it was the case of another young man posing as a soldier. How many of their ilk might be parading around in either Police or Military uniform, we may not know. Robberies have occurred in some places in which people have called us to express their suspicion of police involvement and if people like Desmond could now be fished out, and then perhaps that’s just another splinter cardboard to the jigsaw puzzle.
But the most disturbing angle to this story is that the fake police man would go on making mockery of the Force for such a long time with no Police officer having the slightest idea that the guy was a fake. It is often more difficult to impersonate as a soldier simply because that is one institution that has got a disciplinary unit known as Military Police who would go about and stop at random soldiers in uniform, to know their details. But the Police have none of that unit in place. That responsibility of monitoring or checking up Police officers can be given to the CDIID, which is the Complaints and Disciplinary Division of the Force. Maybe that could deter young men from pretending to be Police and turn their attention to doing something more honourable to survive.
Now fake officer Desmond would again serve time, and we won’t be surprised to see him out on another Presidential pardon, having been recommended by a Correctional Service Officer, who might just be the other side of the same coin! It’s about time for thorough investigations into the manner of granting certain inmates early release through the mercy of the First Gentleman. Well some smart movie -maker s should by now be hoping to meet Desmond in jail for his endorsement of a film about his exploits. He virtually stole a living and duly abused it. Maybe the film can be titled: Twenty Four Months of Mimicking a Force for “Good’’!
Youyi building compound is so messy
We took a walk around the Youyi building compound on Friday and faced the most embarrassing spectacle ever for a place as important as that. The entire compound had plastics, papers and all sorts of rubbish strewn about. The whole place was in a complete mess and there was no sign to suggest the compound was getting tidied up. It is hard to imagine that the huge structure houses some of the most important government offices in the country. We also noticed that day a good number of stationary vehicles been removed from the spots they have stood for ages. Maybe the mostly SUVs that were there had been taken to the garage, but we spotted rough looking shirtless youths appearing to have done car washing in the very compound and they look out of place in such an imposing official building that should have neatness and elegance about and around it. Who is tasked with cleaning of the Youyi building compound? The picture we got that day was that there was absolutely no one to handle the cleaning aspect, or if there were, then that’s dereliction of duty indeed. Our strong suspicion is that keeping that place clean has been neglected and someone must explain.
Police and Forest Guards clash
A video was in circulation recently showing men in green uniform in a melee with the Police believed to have taken place in. We found out that the confrontation took place in the West part of Freetown when the men in green who were forest guards wanted to demolish a structure. The incident was very violent with a lot of punching and kicking that degenerated completely. The Police fired teargas amidst the utterly chaotic scenes. One guard was set upon by Police and some men in civilian clothes; he was savagely attacked and dragged along by an officer. Mass recruitment of men and women as forest guards took place recently and were seen all over town looking neatly dressed. We expect them to deploy in the numerous Forests and Game Reserves in Sierra Leone as well as patrol the Green Belt in the Western Area. We want our nature protected for us to have a favorable ecosystem and we just don’t see the need for the guards to prioritise demolition of any sort at this time. And even if it is within their mandate to put down structures, it should be done in accordance with the laid down procedures and approved after consultations with line Agencies. We are still trying to know whether the police had a special interest in the structure targeted by the guards and reacted the way they did. The confrontation was uncivil and distasteful to say the least, and we therefore advise that investigations be launched and those found culpable disciplined. The violent nature of the footage circulated could have led to fatalities. It is hard to comprehend, why people prefer to be so confrontational, even though they work for state institutions.
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