Police Spokesperson (ACP) Rusoke Kituuma has called upon all people who have fallen victim to extortion by the K-9 unit to come out and report their cases to the Police Professional Standards Unit.
Several individuals have reportedly lodged complaints about the police canine unit, alleging that they are extorting money from them. They are urging police authorities to address this issue among their personnel, who have apparently turned the use of sniffer dogs into a profitable enterprise.
Police Spokesperson (ACP) Rusoke Kituuma, while speaking to journalists on September 12, 2024, said that he cannot refute the allegations without first interacting with the victims but they can report the cases for further management.
“These police officers are human beings and anything is possible. We have put mechanisms in place to address those contradictions. If you have a complaint about the manner in which a CID officer is handling your case you just need to exercise your civic duty and escalate the matter to the professional standards unit,” said Kituma.
In the past three months, police sniffer dogs in Uganda have assisted in the arrest of 4,289 suspected criminals. This figure reflects the effectiveness of the canine unit in supporting law enforcement operations during this period.