Changamwe MP Omar Mwinyi has accused police of harassing residents and demanding money from them.
He claimed residents are being intimidated even in their own homes, with police arresting them arbitrarily but failing to provide valid reasons for the arrests.
“A resident is just walking alone on the road then the next thing we hear is he or she has been arrested,” he said.
He now wants police to support residents when they report incidents and act on them immediately.
He said officers should not turn police stations into corruption dens.
Mr Mwinyi spoke on Friday at the Changamwe Police Station at the opening of new offices for the police division commander (OCPD).
Some officers, he claimed, were acting like prosecutors and judges and were asking for huge amounts of money as fines from the people they arrest.
“Let us be sensible, we cannot be having police officer’s playing roles that do not apply to them. We have other police officers that are arresting residents and asking them to pay Sh5,000 and Sh10,000 as fines,” he said.
Responding to the allegations, Coast Regional Police Commander Paul Ndambuki urged the area OCPD to follow up on the matter.
“We have heard the complaints on the issue of police harassment and we will make sure it has been strictly followed,” he said, urging residents to work with police to bring peace to the area.
“I worked in the Changamwe area as a Directorate of Criminal Investigations officer for 10 years and at that time the area was not that good. But now I’m proud to say a lot has been done by our police officers,” he said.
Residents were urged to report any suspected criminal activities through the Nyumba Kumi initiative, Mulika Mhalifu, National Crime Research Centres and other forums. Police said they welcome photos and videos of suspected crimes.