Police retrain officers to fight cyber

Plans are under way to revive the Cyber Crime Unit within the police force despite complaints that specialised crime-fighting squads have lately become ineffective.

Eighteen police officers are currently being trained on emerging internet-based criminal trends in the United States. The unit is expected to become functional in March after the officers return having completed a basic four-month course.

From the public

Before then, police will recruit information communication technology experts from the public to help the squad crack complicated cyber criminal networks. The team will be attached to the Criminal Investigations Department, the police arm that specialises in penetrating and dismantling criminal networks.

Police Spokesman Eric Kiraithe told the Sunday Nation that civilians recruited to the unit would be incorporated into police ranks to ensure they do their work effectively.

“At the moment we have had to outsource to increase the efficiency of the team. Immediate plans are to gazette successful candidates as special or reservist police officers,” he said.

The Police Commissioner has the power to appoint any Kenyan a special police officer for the period the person is required to carry out specific duties.

By the time the officers return, they will have undergone basic training in electronic money transfer and internet fraud. “The skills will be adequate for an officer to (recognise) with ease that a crime has been committed. They will acquire sufficient knowledge to understand how credit and debit cards operate,” said Mr Kiraithe.

Presently, the most prevalent electronic-based crime in Kenya involves short message fraud through mobile phones.

The initial Cyber Crime Unit, which was established at the CID headquarters in early 2000, is no longer operational. Officers who had been attached to the unit either resigned and were hired by financial institutions or were redeployed to other departments.

Another special crimes unit that has slowed down over the years is the Anti-Narcotics Unit that fights drug-trafficking.

Between April and July 2006, anti-narcotics police netted heroin and cocaine worth Sh150 million while it was in transit through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). Last year, drugs netted at the country’s main entry and exit airports were valued at about Sh20 million.

According to Mr Kiraithe, traffickers are avoiding the JKIA route because of strict monitoring systems put in place by officers stationed there.

However, critics say it is also in part due to the fact that the anti-narcotics unit is a pale shadow of its former self and that the unit is as good as disbanded.

They argue that the anti-narcotics unit has changed bosses five times in the last six years. Its commander used to hold the rank of Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police but it is now headed by a Chief Inspector, which is four ranks below the former post.

Other special crime units that are barely functioning include the Homicide and Airwing police units. The former unit, charged with solving murder cases, has its officers deployed to various police stations.

The unit has since been disbanded and homicide cases are now being handled by officers in charge of crime in police stations.

But Mr Kiraithe said the move was designed to decentralise services and bring them closer to the public. “It was designed to ensure that each station across the country had an expert in solving murder cases unlike in the past when all experts were based in Nairobi,” he said.

Mr Kiraithe added that the previous arrangement was inefficient and costly. “For instance, upon occurrence of a murder in Isiolo, an officer had to leave Nairobi to pursue it. The officer had to be paid transport, accommodation and other upkeep allowances while at the new station.”

Multiple murder cases

The spokesman also explained that an officer would often be assigned to cover multiple murder cases that occurred miles apart, like in Isiolo and Tana River.

But police sources who cannot be quoted because they are not authorised to speak on behalf of the force maintain the move was counter-productive.

Sources privy to police operations also claim that the Police Air Wing Unit, which is based at the Wilson Airport, is floundering. It is presently headed by an officer of the rank of Senior Superintendent after Mr Gilbert Gitonga, who was an assistant police commissioner, resigned three weeks ago.

Air Wing officers fly in choppers to offer aerial support to their colleagues on the ground. Aerial night patrols of the city are currently grounded after they were resumed in September last year.

They had also been grounded two-and-half years earlier so that the helicopters could be refurbished. However, Mr Kiraithe said plans were at an advanced stage to have the aerial night patrols resumed.

The Sunday Nation also learnt that the police have hired the services of two military officers of the rank of major and sent them to Russia to acquaint themselves with operations of the Russian-made police helicopters.