The Violent Crime Crack Unit (VCCU) is a security agency of the government of Uganda. Originally a military unit codenamed "Operation Wembley", it was put under police control and renamed, amid charges of human rights abuses.
VCCU has since been renamed and it now called Rapid Response Unit (RRU). It comes under the Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID). It is headed by the Commissioner David Magara. However after the renaming, it was given wider roles other than dealing with armed robberies. The new tasks include dealing even in petty crimes. However, the Unit has been accused by national and international organisations of human rights abuses.
The current head of the Rapid response unit is "Hajji" Asuman Mugenyi who was the commander of Police in Masaka and he has just returned from East Timor on International duties.
Operation Wembley was formed in response to organised crime that had brought the city of Kampala to its knees. A military general was put in charge of the Operation Wembley. This general then radically recruited and trained young assassins. Operation Wembley assassins tracked down and destroyed cells of terrorists and organised criminals operating in Kampala by just "killing" them without offering a chance for trial in a criminal court. In contrast this operation brought murders and organised crime in the capital to a halt.
The Violent Crime Crack Unit of Uganda has been accused of carrying out extrajudicial killings and abuses against civilians.
Famous quotes containing the words violent, crime, crack and/or unit:
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—Frank Pittman (20th century)
“If you commit a big crime then you are crazy, and the more heinous the crime the crazier you must be. Therefore you are not responsible, and nothing is your fault.”
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“The people inside have no water
and are never allowed to touch.
They crack like macadam.
They are mute.
They do not cry help
except inside....”
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“During the Suffragette revolt of 1913 I ... [urged] that what was needed was not the vote, but a constitutional amendment enacting that all representative bodies shall consist of women and men in equal numbers, whether elected or nominated or coopted or registered or picked up in the street like a coroner’s jury. In the case of elected bodies the only way of effecting this is by the Coupled Vote. The representative unit must not be a man or a woman but a man and a woman.”
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