Nairobi:  It is gratifying that some senior police officers have already started implementing aspects of the highly comprehensive Bill of Rights by ordering their juniors not to hold suspects for more than 24 hours, and to release petty offenders on free bond or cash bail. For too long, suspects have been treated inhumanely in police cells, though the law states that a person is presumed innocent until found guilty.

There have been uncountable instances of police officers meting out instant punishment, or unnecessarily incarcerating non-violent offenders when it would have been more sensible to let them go and appear in court later.

This form of abuse has been rampant all over the country, especially in rural area where the majority have no idea that they have any rights whatsoever. This should be a thing of the past.

Police work is not easy. The officers work long, hard hours under generally difficult circumstances to keep our cities, estates and even villages secure, and in the past, they probably thought that it was lawful for them to vent their frustrations on suspects under their custody.

Well, this can no longer be the case as some of them will find out when they are hauled to court to face charges of assault.

But this respect for other people's rights should not be expected to come automatically; all police officers should read and internalise the contents of the Bill of Rights so that they can understand how far they should go.

That is the only way to ensure that brutal or even trigger-happy police officers do not use their powers to do irrevocable harm to individuals who may eventually be found to have been innocent.

* Editorial comment in Daily Nation