The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) on Thursday, July 6, recommended that officers from the National Youth Service (NYS) be trained together with police officers.
IPOA also suggested that members of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and Kenya Prison Services (KPS) be given specialised skills during their training at National Police Service Training College in Kiganjo College.
According to the authority, the rationale behind this recommendation is to ensure synergy and operational preparedness among these agencies.
IPOA noted that by training together, these officers will be able to learn from each other's expertise and develop a common understanding of how to respond to security threats.
"Further, special police officers drawn from other units including the KWS, KFS, Prisons and NYS be trained together with the NPS on election preparedness to enhance operational synergy," IPOA stated.
Further, IPOA noted that the joint training will enhance the knowledge and skills of the officers, and create a better understanding of each other's roles and responsibilities, especially, when working on diverse security activities.
The authority also observed that there is a need for the government to restructure the training model so as to improve the ability of officers to respond to security threats in a manner that would be significant and help to improve security of Kenya.
Meanwhile, IPOA explained that it received and processed 1,777 complaints, concluded 367 investigations, inspected 97 police facilities and monitored 59 police operations.
As a result, the authority placed a total of 181 cases before the court in line with the mission as stipulated in its strategic plan (2019-2024).
"The Authority has continued to conduct impartial and independent investigations on police misconduct, inspections of police premises, audits on investigations and monitoring of police operations affecting members of the public," IPOA stated.
In the period under review, the authority monitored police operations during the party nominations and the general elections. IPOA revealed that it deployed 250 monitors across 46 counties compared to 104 in 31 counties in the 2017 general elections.
"The inspections included 37 new inspections, 55 follow-up inspections and 5 thematic inspections, which included 4 on police records and 1 on illegal immigrants as a special interest group.
"The authority conducted 97 inspections of police premises and detention facilities and monitored 59 police operations. Several recommendations were made to address issues of concern and inform police operations in subsequent elections. Key among them include the NPS making it mandatory for deployed officers to display their name tags and service numbers throughout the exercise," IPOA stated.
IPOA noted that the completion of investigations had gradually increased throughout the period due to growth in staffing levels and capacity building of technical officers.
"The 59 police operations included 33 on public order management, 8 on postponed elections, 7 on social media monitoring, 4 on security operations, 3 on traffic management, 3 on beats and patrols and 1 on the August 2022 general elections.
