A lifetime of bitter experiences had shaped my distrust of police officers, soldiers, and anyone in uniform. Instead of protecting the public and maintaining order, many used their authority to intimidate, dominate, and abuse the very people they were meant to serve.
As a traveler, adventurer, and writer, I journeyed across several African countries, and each destination carried its own painful story of brutality at the hands of law enforcement. In Nigeria, an immigration officer slapped me repeatedly and emptied my pockets.
In Lagos, two armed men in police uniforms kidnapped me, attempted to rob me, and when their plan failed, they beat me mercilessly before pushing me out of a moving vehicle.
These experiences left deep scars. Instead of safety, I found violence. Instead of justice, I met corruption. Over time, I lost all confidence in law enforcement, until one cold winter morning in Amsterdam changed everything.
It was a dark winter morning as I cycled to work. Ahead of me, a group of traffic police officers were stopping cyclists with faulty lights and issuing fines. More than a dozen people had already been ticketed. I had no chance to escape when a female officer signaled for me to stop.
She inspected my bicycle and discovered that my front light was faulty. I expected the usual harshness I had grown accustomed to, but instead, she looked at me with kindness and said something completely unexpected:
“I don’t want to issue you a ticket. Please fix it tomorrow before passing this route again.”
While she spoke to me, her male colleague watched us suspiciously, clearly wondering why she wasn’t writing a fine. She urged me to leave quickly, but before I could move, the male officer approached.
He questioned her sharply:
“Why the delay? His front light is faulty.”
Calmly and confidently, she replied:
“His rear light works, and he didn’t know the front one was faulty. I told him to fix it tomorrow.”
Her colleague walked away without another word. She then instructed me to leave, but not to ride the bicycle. I obeyed and continued on foot. Fortunately, I was only a few meters from my workplace, the Okura Hotel.
What happened that morning shocked me both physically and emotionally. For the first time in my life, a police officer, and a woman at that, treated me with humanity, fairness, and compassion. That single moment restored something I thought I had lost forever: trust.
To this day, whenever I see a policewoman, that memory returns, and I smile. It reminds me that although many people judge the police harshly, not all officers are the same. Some truly embody the values of justice, kindness, and integrity.