Kenya Police

The Kenya Police Service is a national body in charge of law enforcement in Kenya. It is subordinate to National Police Service which is headed by Inspector General of Police who exercises independent command over the Service. Kenya Police is headed by Deputy Inspector General. Kenya Police is divided into Service Headquarters in Nairobi, Formations, General Duty Commands and Training Institutions.

Kenya Police Service [1]
Polisi wa Kenya
The Kenya Police patch.
Flag of the Kenya Police
Common nameKenya Police
Karau/Polisi
MottoUtumishi kwa Wote
(English: "Service to All")
Agency overview
Formed1906 [2]
Employeesapprox. 101,000=[3][4][5]
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionKEN
Map of Kenya Police Service [6]'s jurisdiction.
Size581,309 square kilometres (224,445 sq mi)
Population47,564,000 Kenya
Governing bodyKenya
General nature
Operational structure
HeadquartersVigilance House, Harambee Ave, Nairobi
Police Officers80,000=(approx)[3][4]
Agency executive
Parent agencyNational Police Service
Units
CountiesCounties of Kenya
Facilities
AirbasesWilson Airport
Mil Mi-17, MBB Bo 105 Cessnas15
Website
kenyapolice.go.ke
Kenya Police Officer on traffic duties in Nairobi City.

Administration Police Service is commanded through a hierarchy separate from that of the Kenya Police.[8] For other state security bodies see Law enforcement in Kenya. Recruitment to the police service is done on yearly basis.[9]

History

The Kenya police force was established as a British colonial police force in 1907. From the 1887 to 1902 policing was provided by the East Africa Trading Company. After 1902 the Kenya-Uganda Railway introduced their own police units.[10]

In 1906 the Police Ordinance was established to create a new force in 1907, the Nairobi Mounted Police within the jurisdiction of the East Africa Protectorate. The current force's name came into effect in 1920 with the newly created British Kenya Colony.

The colonial force was made up mainly of British and Indian recruits as senior officers and Africans amongst lower ranks.[10]

Following Kenya's independence, the British officers were replaced with local Kenyan members.

Structure

General

Kenya Police is divided into General Duty and Formations. General Duty comprises components with regions being the largest and police patrol bases being the smallest.

Regional Police Commander is in charge of a Region (formerly Provinces), County Police Commander is in charge of Officers in the County, Sub-County Police Commander Superintends Sub-County (previously called District). Officer Commanding Station (OCS) is in charge of a Police Station in a Ward and oversees all its Police Posts and Patrol Bases (Ward Commander).

Formations

The Kenya Police formations/Units[11] are headed by commandants/directors, who hold the rank of Senior Assistant Inspector General, Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG)or Commissioner of Police (CP).

These formations are listed as under:

  1. General Service Unit (GSU): both headquarters and training school are in Nairobi ; the Commandant is Douglas Kanja.
  2. Diplomatic Police Unit: It is headed by a Commandant from its Nairobi headquarters.
  3. Traffic Police Department: It is headed by a Commandant from its Nairobi offices.
  4. Kenya Police College: It is headed by a Commandant from its headquarters at Kiganjo in Nyeri County.
  5. Kenya Police Air Wing: It is headed by a Commandant from its Nairobi headquarters.
  6. Presidential Escort Unit: It is headed by Commandant from its Statehouse Nairobi headquarters.
  7. Railways Police: It is headed by a Commandant from its Nairobi headquarters.
  8. Kenya Police Dog Unit: It is headed by a Commandant from its Nairobi headquarters.
  9. Tourist Police Unit: It is headed by a Commandant from its offices in Old Nairobi Area Provincial Police headquarters in Nairobi.
  10. Kenya Airports Police Unit: It is headed by a Commandant from its Nairobi headquarters and three divisions (Nairobi, Eldoret, Moi airports).
  11. Maritime Police Unit: It is headed by a Commanding Officer from its headquarters at Kilindini Harbour in Mombasa .

Police ranks

The Kenya Police wear badges of rank on the shoulders (Inspector-General – Inspector) and sleeve (senior sergeant – constable) of their uniform to denote their rank. In line with the ongoing reforms, the uniforms committee is also working on new insignia for the revised rank structure, which will have to be approved by the National Police Service Commission.[12] The order of Kenya Police ranks is as follows:[13]

  1. Inspector-General (formerly Commissioner of Police) – equivalent to the 2-star general in the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
  2. Deputy Inspector-General – equivalent to the one-star rank -brigadier general in the KDF
  3. Senior Assistant Inspector-General – equivalent to colonel in the KDF.
  4. Assistant Inspector-General – equivalent to the lieutenant colonel in the KDF
  5. Commissioner of Police
  6. Senior Superintendent – equivalent to major in the KDF
  7. Superintendent – equivalent to captain in the KDF
  8. Assistant Superintendent – equivalent to lieutenant in the KDF
  9. Chief Inspector – equivalent to Warrant Officer 1 in the KDF
  10. Inspector – equivalent to Warrant Officer 2 or sergeant major in the KDF
  11. Senior Sergeant – equivalent to senior sergeant in the KDF
  12. Sergeant – equivalent to sergeant in the KDF
  13. Corporal
  14. Constable – equivalent to private in the KDF

Former Kenya Police ranks and Kenya Police - Ranks and Insignia can be found at this reference.[14]

Commissioners of Police & Inspectors-General

From 1906 to 1964 the force was headed by British officers. In 2012, the position of Inspector General was introduced to head the newly created National Police Service. The current Inspector General is Hillary Mutyambai who is the third holder of the position.

The following officers have to date served in the capacity of Commissioner of Police:[15]

  • Bernard Hinga 1964–1978
  • Ben Gethi 1978–1982
  • Bernard Njinu 1982–1988
  • Phillip Kilonzo 1988–1993
  • Shedrack Kiruki 1993–1996
  • Duncan Wachira 1996–1998
  • Philemon Abong’o 1998–2002[16]
  • Edwin Nyaseda 2002–2003[16]
  • Major General Mohammed Hussein Ali 2004–2009[17]
  • Mathew Kirai Iteere 2009–2012
  • Grace Kaindi 2013-2015
  • Joel Kitili 2015-2018
  • Edward N. Mbugua 2018 TO DATE

The following officers have served as Inspector-General:

Ongoing changes

Following the promulgation of the new Constitution of Kenya on 27 August 2010, as laid down in Chapter 17 Part 4, the Kenyan police forces is undergoing a series of reforms. Hence called The Kenya Police Service, it is now headed by a Deputy Inspector-General and the division of its functions are organised to take into account the devolved structure of government in Kenya.

In the on going changes that started in 2018, police operational commmand was aligned Police with existing administrative boundaries to create a unified command as follows:-

1. Regional Police Commander (RPC)

2. County Police Commander (CPC)

3. Sub County Police Commander (SPC)

4. Officer in charge Police Station ( OCS)

The following positions were therefore abolished:-

1. APS Regional Commander

2. KPS Regional Commander

3. DCI Regional Commander

4. County Coordinating Commander

5. KPS County Commander

6. APS County Commander

7. DCI County Commander

8. APS Sub County Commander

9. DCI Sub County Commander

10. KPS Officer Commanding Police Divisions

11.District Administration Police Commander

Consiquently, the number of commanders were reduced from 168 to 56 Commanders.

Equipment

The equipment of the Kenya Police and General Service Unit (GSU), a paramilitary wing of the Kenyan Police, comprises:

Aircraft

  • 1 AS350 B3e Ecureuil helicopter (January 2012) (France), June 2012, crashed, total loss, with 6 fatalities.[22]
Kenya Police Eurocopter AS350
  • 7 Cessna aircraft, the latest (2011) being a Cessna 208 Caravan light aircraft (United States)
Kenya Police Cessna 208 Caravan
Kenya Police Mil Mi-17
  • 3 AW139 One crashed without fatalities resulting in write off. (Italy)

Weapons

Vehicles

  • 30 VN-4 Armoured Personnel Carriers (GSU)[23]
  • Troop carrying vehicles
  • Buses
  • Vans
  • Patrol cars -4x4
  • Patrol Cars-saloon
  • Surveillance Vehicles
  • Motorcycles
  • M/Vs Civil disturbance
  • Break downs
  • Fire Engines
  • Water Bowsers
  • Fuel Tankers
  • Boats

Societal Impact

Following a history of human right abuses by the Kenya Police, efforts are being made to reform the force.[24] Kenyan policemen are poorly paid and have to make use with archaic housing that has not been expanded or renovated since the 1970s. This has made them very susceptible to corruption and crime. Extortion and bribery are not unknown practices and the Kenyan people rank the police among the most corrupt bodies in the country.[25][26] In July 2010 the Minister, Prof. George Saitoti, announced a 28% pay increase for junior officers and a 25% pay increase for senior officers. This reform means that the most junior officer, a police constable, shall receive Ksh 21,000/month including allowances.[27][28]


See also

References
  1. "Kenya Police Service". www.kenyapolice.go.ke.
  2. "Strategic Plan" (PDF). www.humanrightsinitiative.org.
  3. Interpol Kenya. "FAQ". Interpol.
  4. "Record number of Kenya police graduates in April". Aa.com.tr. 24 April 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  5. "Govt Finishes Police Digital registration". nation.co.ke. 19 March 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  6. "Kenya Police Service". www.kenyapolice.go.ke.
  7. http://www.nationalpolice.go.ke/
  8. "(2010) Crime and Development in Kenya".
  9. richie (22 June 2018). "The Kenya Police Recruitment Dates 2020/2021". Kenyadmission. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  10. Sommer, Hans-Martin. "History of the Police in Kenya 1885–1960". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. "Kenya Police Formation". Kenya Police. Archived from the original on 27 July 2010.
  12. "Number of senior police ranks reduced to boost service". Business Daily Africa. 30 January 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  13. Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution. "The National Police Service (Amendment) Bill, 2013". Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  14. "Insignia". web.archive.org. 16 August 2007. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  15. "Former Commissioners". Kenya Police. Archived from the original on 31 July 2010.
  16. Daily Nation website, 30 December 2008: Former police chief Nyaseda dies in hospital
  17. Daily Nation, 8 September 2009: Kibaki moves Ali, names new Kenya police boss
  18. -. "Kimaiyo to be sworn in Monday".CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. Kimaiyo, David, In the Spirit of Service, Nairobi: Kipchumba Foundation, 2017.
  20. Nguru, Steve. "Structure and Composition – Page 3". ustawi.info.ke.
  21. http://www.nationalpolice.go.ke/
  22. Kenya Police Air Wing-becomes-first-African-customer-to-operate-Eurocopter-s-enhanced-AS350B3e-helicopter_860.html Archived 23 January 2013 at Archive.today
  23. Fisher Jr, Richard D. "Kenya receives 30 Norinco VN4 armoured vehicles". Jane's Information Group. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  24. "kenyapolice.go.ke". Archived from the original on 11 July 2006. Retrieved 18 June 2006.
  25. Survey: Police are most corrupt in Kenya. United Press International. 18 July 2008
  26. Kenya police still most corrupt. BBC News. 21 August 2007.
  27. "Kenya police get pay raise". Daily Nation.
  28. "Crime and Development in Kenya".
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