Deputy Inspector: Sibling rivalry threat to police units merger

Kinyuru Munuhe @PeopleDailyKe

Sibling rivalry between administration and regular police units has threatened to derail the ongoing merger, with the former alleging discrimination. 

It has emerged that weeks after the merger was announced, at least 24,000 AP officers have not been assigned duties in what is suspected to be institutionalised sabotage.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Edward Mbugua had ordered that the AP officerss be deployed to handle all duties, including daily security operations, court orderly and traffic, but that is yet to happen.

He said the officers have been sitting idle in the camps since the merger despite both units being  unitary under the National Police Service.

“It has come to my attention that former AP officers are under deployed or are not being deployed in some sections at the police station. I direct that they be deployed to enable them learn the duties performed at the station,” Mbugua said through a circular, dated July 24, directed to station commanders.

Forthwith, the respective regional commanders were ordered to conduct impromptu inspection to ensure the directive is enforced.

Under the merger, a majority of officers will work as General Duty Officers under the Deputy IG in charge of Kenya Police Service.

The Rural Border Police Unit has been transformed into the Border Police Unit with 6,000 officers under the Deputy IG, Administration.

Regional, county and sub-county police commander posts previously assigned to respective unit commanders were merged to create a single command structure in the regions, counties, and sub-counties.

It is on that premise that police service opted to change officers uniform colour in line with a United Nations recommendation to increase their visibility and accountability while on duty.

Command structure

But disparities in the nature of training, open rivalry and disaffection between APs and regular police have been cited as the bottleneck with challenges in command structure.

While the two police services have been merged, at the apex, there are two Deputy Inspectors General. With the merger, it is not clear how the command structure will function, given the two deputies have specially designated functions for their units.

Under the new structure, the AP boss has “no personnel” in what creates friction.

 Primarily, APS officers are not trained to investigate cases, a training vacuum that will be gradually minimised through unified curriculum.

Traditionally, any arrests made by AP officers have to be in police stations and AP camps can only be used as temporary holding centers.

Police presence

Prior to the establishment of the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) which is mandated to recruit, promote and discipline officers, KPS were examined by the Public Service Commission unlike their counterparts who were not subjected to PSC examiners.

The merger will effectively increase physical police presence in general duty deployments by almost double under singular command of station commanders.

The structure also clearly outlines the distinct reporting functions for Mbugua as Public Security and Safety while Deputy IG, Administration Noor Gabow is in charge of Protective and Border Security and Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti oversees criminal investigations.

Earlier this month, Interior Cabinet secretary Fred Matiang’i presided over the transfer ceremony of 24,000 Administration Police officers and Anti-Stock Theft Unit from the Administration Police Service to Kenya Police Service the Administration Police Training College Embakasi.