The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) disbanded the famous flying squad unit and replaced it with a new unit dubbed Sting Squad Headquarters (SSH).
On Tuesday, December 31, the directorate issued a statement announcing that the SSH, an auxiliary support team on identified, researched and profiled crimes, will have a maximum of 50 specialised trained officers who will respond to specific cases such as armed robberies, kidnappings, motor vehicle theft, sale and distribution of contraband and substandard goods.
Before they are assembled, the competitively selected officers will undertake specialised courses within and outside the country touching on their core areas of operation.
"DCI wishes to inform the public that after disbanding all the Flying Squad Sub-units within the Country, only the Headquarters Unit based in Nairobi remained.
"With effect from today, the Unit has equally been disbanded. This marks the end of the Flying Squad Unit and no officer will present himself or herself to the public as such," the agency informed.
It went on to state that the Special Crime Prevention Unit (SCPU) was also scaled down to a smaller unit only based at Headquarters, Nairobi.
The SCPU was renamed Special Service Unit (SSU). Officers deployed in the unit underwent intense training in and outside the country leading to the upgrading of their competencies, enhanced skills and knowledge aimed at making the unit more effective & efficient while maximising on the available resources.
"Both Squads (SSU) and (SSH) will be linked directly to the Crime Research & Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) for intelligence-driven operations alongside other augmenting Units including; Cybercrime, Ballistics, Scenes of Crime, Principal Crime Registrar, Crime Intelligence Unit, Homicide, (DNA, Toxicological, Chemistry and Biology Lab Units), currently being installed in the Ultra-Modern Forensic Laboratory.
"The units will work closely with other State Security Agencies for information and intelligence sharing, among others. Both squads will be on standby 24/7 as needed in critical crime emergencies within the country," the DCI stated.
