INTERIOR CS ORDERS INTALLATION OF CCTV CAMERAS IN ALL POLICE STATIONS

All 1,209 police stations across the country will be required to install CCTV surveillance cameras within two years in a government effort to enhance transparency and curb police misconduct. Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has said that footage from the surveillance systems will be operating at all times and will be managed by the Officer Commanding Station(OCS) and backed up externally to safeguard evidence and prevent interference. Murkomen has stated that the surveillance will be a legal requirement for all existing and future police stations and the ministry will be seeking parliamentary support to criminalize any tampering with the cameras. He added that each OCS will be personally responsible for the operation of the systems and must report any faults within one hour through the established chain of command.

The CS noted that although some police stations are already equipped with CCTVs, those were installed independently and not under the official National Police Service(NPS) program. Murkomen also announced plans to digitize occurrence books(OBs) within a year, in line with the Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda(BETA), to make police reporting more secure and tamper proof. Additionally, all police stations will be required to adopt community policing initiatives aimed at strengthening trust and collaboration between police and residents.

Police operations will undergo regular independent audits to assess effectiveness and identify areas for improvement. The government is working to build a performance based system that rewards officers for enforcement, ethical conduct, and community engagement. To anchor the reforms, the CS directed the rollout of continuous development training starting with the OCSs, who will undertake minimum constitutional and professional conduct courses aimed at enhancing discipline, right -based policing , and effective service delivery.

The directives come as incidents of police brutality rise nationwide, following the recent death of Albert Ojwang who died in police custody.