The Police in Semonkong just started to enforce road laws. Some mandate was handed down along with cash demanding local police enforce road laws all over Lesotho. Now if any of you saw Semonkong you might know better how humourous road laws seem. On gravel roads and mud paths there isn't much beyond commonsense and experience that rule. To promote a stronger sense of authority and to enhance their efficiency the once horse mounted police are now cruising around in specially outfitted Toyota Land Cruisers with a holding cell in the back. Thanks to a large grant from some international organization, police all over Lesotho are now all riding around in the blue and yellows.
Mostly, this is a great initiative. Too many times people get wasted here on beer or local brews and then hop into their vehicle. Hopefully those same guys are the police! But to have people roam around looking after things is pretty great.
The first time I met the police in their official capacity was at my front door around 7 am. Four men taller than myself standing in a row or propping one leg on a stack of blocks all like something from an eighties gang movie. At first I thought I should leave the bars locked on my door but they introduced themselves as the police. They were coming to have someone identify some stolen property from my organization. Living right beside the office at the time made me the steward of hospitality so I invited them in to have a seat and wait for one of the office staff. Three of the four came and had a seat. We began talking until I interrupted to ask if the fourth man would like to come inside. The one officer, a large man with a voice deeper than Vader's, said “no, that is the criminal” pointing outside with his mulamoo, the local herd boys stick used to tend the animals. Something in my “oh!” response tipped them off to the unexpectedness and the officer then said “maybe we should put handcuffs on him” almost asking me and the other guys if it was a good idea or not.
Different is the kind of law enforcement in Lesotho. That same day I rode around in a commandeered pick-up truck with the criminal as he showed us all the secret spots for his stolen materials. At least then he had cuffs on the whole time!
The authority the cops have here should be welcomed but like anywhere, if you give a guy a bull horn he will abuse it! Another night most recently, Ro (another Peace Corps volunteer also living in Semonkong) and myself were getting a lift back from the lodge with the staff. That night, like most, the lodge was using the same old Land Rover to bus everyone home. This night was particularly special with the addition of blue police lights polluting an otherwise beautiful moonless night.
The office ran up behind us and started blaring his bull horn. I don't know how the driver understood anything through the crackling of a speaker up way too loud. The driver came back and said we all had to get out of the car.
By this time in my service I have come to know and be recognized by most anyone. It's a fact of living as a white man in a small neighborhood in Africa. Thinking I could ask about the situation, I got out of the Land Rover and headed to the driver's side of the police truck only to watch the truck pull into reverse to evade me. 'Where is he going?' I thought to myself. The bull horn then kicked in like the wizard of OZ saying something to the equivalent of “ssscccrreeecchhhhaaaa;” the static again. I persist just to reach his window to see who it is and say hi. This guy had nothing off it, popped the truck into drive and rode off with the lights on and the static echoing through town. What a genius!
The next day I came to learn that the driver was arrested, asked to proceed to the police station where he slept, and the vehicle was impounded all because the officer felt there were too many people in the car. Six people occupying a legal 8 places was not hard for Jonathan to argue. Apparently, the officer got beat and demoted for the incident. Not sure it was that bad either but such are the ways round the town of Dodge.
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