Police, politics and policing in Lesotho

Recent developments in Lesotho about actions of police have brought focus on the state of policing in democratic societies.

We have been witnesses to a police force which has no capacity to investigate political crimes ending up virtually outsourcing its investigations; we have seen a police force turning on itself in order to satisfy political masters; and we have now seen the development of a hunter police force which goes house to house beating up students whose only crime is that they wanted to demonstrate about failure by the government to release their allowances.