Kenya Police

History

The Kenya police force was established as a British colonial police force in 1907. From 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.

Structure

General

The Kenya Police is structured into two main categories: General Duty and Formations. General Duty includes various levels, with regions being the highest and police patrol bases being the most basic units.

Regional Police Commander is in charge of a Region (formerly Provinces), County Police Commander is in charge of Officers in the County(previously called District), Sub-County Police Commander Superintends Sub-County (previously called Division). 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 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:

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.

The order of Kenya Police ranks is as follows:

Inspector-General (formerly Commissioner of Police)

Deputy Inspector-General

Senior Assistant Inspector-General

Assistant Inspector-General

Commissioner of Police

Senior Superintendent

Superintendent

Assistant Superintendent

Chief Inspector

Inspector

Senior Sergeant

Sergeant

Corporal

Constable

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 ongoing changes that started in 2018, police operational command was aligned police with existing administrative boundaries to create a unified command as follows:

Regional Police Commander (RPC)

County Police Commander (CPC)

Sub County Police Commander (SPC)

Officer in charge Police Station (OCS)

The following positions were therefore abolished:

APS Regional Commander

KPS Regional Commander

DCI Regional Commander

County Coordinating Commander

KPS County Commander

APS County Commander

DCI County Commander

APS Sub County Commander

DCI Sub County Commander

KPS Officer Commanding Police Divisions

District Administration Police Commander

Consequently, 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

2 Cessna fixed wing aircraft (United States), the latest (2011) being a Cessna 208 Caravan light aircraft

1 AS350 B3e Ecureuil helicopter (France) (January 2012), June 2012, crashed, total loss, with 6 fatalities.

4 Mil Mi-17 helicopters (Russia)

4 Bell 206 helicopters (United States)

3 AW139 helicopters (Italy), one of which crashed without fatalities resulting in being written off

1 AW119 Koala helicopter (Italy)

Weapons

G3 Rifle

AK-47 Rifle

MP5 Submachine Gun

Scorpion EVO 3 A1 Submachine gun

M16 assault rifles

M4 carbines

Glock Pistol

Browning Pistol

Jericho 94 Pistol

CZ 75 Pistol

M79 grenade launchers

M67 recoilless rifle

Vehicles

30 VN-4 Armoured Personnel Carriers (GSU)

Troop carrying vehicles

Buses

Vans

Patrol cars – 4 x 4

Water Cannons

Patrol Cars-saloon

Surveillance Vehicles 4 × 4 with radio

Motorcycles

M/Vs Civil disturbance

Break downs/ Recovery Vehicles

Fire Engines

Water Bowsers

Fuel Tankers

Boats

Societal impact

Following concerns about human right abuses by the Kenya Police, efforts are being made to reform the force. Some Kenyan policemen face challenges with their housing that has not been expanded or renovated since the 1970s. These challenges have resulted to corruption and crime. Extortion and bribery are known practices and the Kenyan people rank the police among the most corrupt bodies in the country.

In July 2010, the Minister, 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/= per month including allowances.