The most dreaded Police killer squad popularly known as Hessy is meticulously organised and purposely outfitted force that has been mysterious and brutal to gang groups terrorizing Nairobians.
Its operatives work in slums and densely populated estates of Nairobi, in particular, Kibera, Dandora, Mathare and Kayole.
The Hessys (crime busters) appear on social media like Facebook with encrypted names but they are felt on the ground when a member of the public explained as a [armed] criminal is felled.
In social media, the crime busters are identified as Hessy wa Dandora, Hessy wa Kayole, Hessy wa Majengo, Hessy wa Eastleigh, Kibera, among others.
About Hessy
Not much is known about the group. Like the NIS officers, they mostly work underground with their noses always on the ground for any suspicious movement of the gang groups.
Police spokesman Charles Owino has not responded to calls to have the identity and mission of the officers revealed. Equally, the Independent Police Oversight Authority has declined to confirm or deny the existence of the police unit.
Sources indicate that Hessy’s are made up of officers from various police units to purposely be ruthless in combating crime. The unit was created in 2010 when the country was experiencing increased sporadic terrorist attacks.
Criminals at the time used to hurl hand grenades and plant light explosives in strategic public spaces, injuring scores when they went off. The crime rate was also surging at the time mainly in the ghetto areas
How they work
The group operates under a unit code of SPIV. Little is known about the meaning of the code.
Their work is to follow up on police OBs and identify those who have been booked severally on criminal allegations. They then monitor the progress of their cases in court.
With the operationalisation of the 2010 Constitution, an accused person is often freed on bond or bail. This vexes law enforcement because they get back to the community and “sustain their devious character”.
Members of this unit are out on a singular objective; to eliminate any notorious thug who the Judiciary cannot isolate and stop harassing members of the public!
The unit finds it useful to engage the youth through social media (Facebook) because through this, other criminals get to see the warnings and how their accomplices or counterparts get to meet their fate.
The Hessy pages tend to have mugshots of suspected criminals. They are warned to reform or else “you will meet this big thing.” The ‘thing’ in reference is normally decoded to mean the bullet. Photos of the bodies of “criminals” felled by the “big thing” are uploaded.