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, Formations, General Duty Commands and Training Institutions. General Duty commands are further divided into Regional, County, Sub-County Commands, Police stations and Police Posts in that hierarchy. Ultimately all these elements report to, and are accountable to Deputy Inspector General based at Kenya Police Headquarters in Nairobi.
Administration Police Service is commanded through a hierarchy separate from that of the Kenya Police. For other state security bodies see Law enforcement in Kenya.

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

The Current Structure

Regional Police Commander in charge of a region. County Police Commander in charge of County Formations. Sub-County Police Commander in charge of Sub-Counties. Officer Commanding Station.

Current Formations

The current Inspector General is Hillary Mutyambai following the introduction of the position to replace the police commissioner. He is the third holder of the position after Joseph Boinnet. The Kenya Police is divided into the following formations; the unit commandants/directors generally hold the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police, or Commissioner of Police :
  1. General Service Unit : both headquarters and training school are in Nairobi; the Commandant is Douglas Kanja
  2. Diplomatic Police Unit: Patrick Tito leads the unit from the Nairobi offices.
  3. Traffic Police Department: headed by Samwel Kimaru, with main offices in Nairobi
  4. : located in Kiganjo; commanding officer is

    Societal impact

Following a history of human rights abuses by the Kenya Police, efforts are being made to reform the force. 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.
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.

Police ranks

The Kenya Police wear badges of rank on the shoulders and sleeve 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.
The order of Kenya Police ranks is as follows:
Former Kenya Police ranks and insignia can be found at this reference.

Commissioners of Police & Inspectors-General

From 1906 to 1964 the force was headed by British officers.
The following officers have to date served in the capacity of Commissioner of Police:
The following officers have served as Inspector-General:
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.

Equipment

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