The Ministry of Interior has launched a series called “Breaking the Cycle: Leading by Example,” that sheds light on the battle against drug abuse among police officers and the journey towards reform and rehabilitation.
The Interior ministry has shared the mystery behind the law enforcers abusing drugs.
“In the premiere episode of our series ‘Breaking The Cycle: Leading By Example,’ we explore the triggers and challenges faced by those on the frontlines in the fight against drug abuse within law enforcement,” reads a post by the Interior ministry.
In the series, one police officer narrates how he fell victim of drug abuse after a bitter separation with his wife. He also explains how his wife took with her all his belonging thus pushing him to much drinking.
“What really pushed me to drinking a lot is that my ex-wife stole from me after we separated,” the officers stated.
He recalls being heavily drunk one time to an extent of being rescued by street children who found him lying under a trailer.
Police Narrates How He Was Rescued by Street kids
“When I beg receiving my salary I started drinking. But this alcohol was actually not building me but destroying me. I had a family and it made me split from them. When I was working in Bungoma, one day I was heavily drunk under a trailer,” narrated the police.
“We normally view them as bad people, but I thank God. I was saved by street kids under the trailer. They placed me beside the roadside where they were seated with a small fire. And that is where I slept,”
The officer adds that he even stopped going to work because of his drinking habits forcing his superiors to intervene and have his parents look for him.
“My parents were given a call by my superior and they had to come looking for me in Bungoma My mum could not easily find me because I had also become a street person. My fellow police were going to work but I wasn’t making any effort,” he continued.
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Drug Addiction Due to Stress
Similarly, another officer shared his journey battling alcoholism, revealing the dark spiral that nearly consumed him.
“You find your immediate boss cannot listen to you. Maybe you want to go home to attend to an urgent issue and the boss declines to let you go,” he recounted.
According to his narrations, stress and disillusionment led him to seek solace in alcohol, even to the point of reporting for duty while intoxicated.
“Colleagues are given days off and you get frustrated, this is what led me to taking alcohol and going to the bar so that I can sleep.”
“Sometimes I reported to work while drunk. And then that attitude of senior officer condemning you,” he added.
In a different incident, one officer narrated indulging in alcohol after tragedy struck when his wife and child were involved in a fatal accident that led to their death.
“On reaching to the hospital she didn’t take me to the hospital, she took me to the morgue. I had to identify my wife’s body and at the same time my child’s body.
When I asked what happened she told me that they had an accident, from there I just took myself into alcohol,” he shared.
Family Break up as a Cause of Drug Abuse
Meanwhile, another officer narrated of how his colleague introduced him to a local pub to help manage his thoughts after a troubling past experience.
In his narrations, the police officer explains how he lost his wife in 2015, thus falling into depression due to the loss and having to singlehandedly take care of his children.
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“I became friends with one of my colleagues. He told me that there is a way to manage stress. He further introduced me to a nearby drinking joint,” he narrated.
Another police from Luanda recalls separating with his wife who was harassing his parents and later started taking alcohol due to loneliness and frustrations.
He narrates how his wife reported him to the children department which ordered him to be paying ksh5,000 monthly, something he says really drained him financially.
“I was not taking alcohol before then until when she started frustrating me with paying ksh5,000,” the officer narrated.
The series delves into the story of alcoholism, which has infiltrated the police service, leading to dire consequences for both officers and the communities they serve.
It not only exposes the harsh realities of addiction within law enforcement but also underscores the importance of leadership and support in breaking the cycle.
