Row over high mortality rate of police officers

Bystanders look on as the body of a murdered police officer is taken away in Nairobi, Kenya on 18 August 2009. Being a policeman in Kenya is incredibly risky, many come under fire of lynch mobs and gangsters.

More than 20 Kenyan police officers have been killed and many injured in the line of duty in 2009, showing that even those charged with protecting the public are themselves becoming victims of gun crime. In at least 11 of the cases, the officers were shot and killed in ambushes laid by criminal gangs or bandits. Others died in different circumstances, but still in the line of duty, like being lynched by mobs while enforcing the law.The high death rate has raised concern over the welfare of officers, especially now that a national task force headed by Mr Justice (rtd) Philip Ransley is looking into police reforms.