Police in plan to digitise services

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i addresses a press conference at the KICD on December 18, 2018. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The expected changes include personnel management, administrative systems, processes and occurrence book (OB) details.
  • Currently, all the records are kept in manual files, which, according to the Interior ministry, are prone to tampering and loss.

The Interior ministry will today launch the full digitisation of policing services.

The event to take place at the Kilifi County Commander’s offices, will be presided over by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i.

Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet said the government was keen to digitise all police services.

“We want to migrate from the old way of doing things into totally digital platforms,” Mr Boinnet said.

The expected changes include personnel management, administrative systems, processes and occurrence book (OB) details.

Police officers will be required to register in their sub-counties of work in various parts of the country.

PREPARATION

Details about police officers that are supposed to be keyed into the new system are their personal details which include their training, when they were recruited, career progress, deployment and family records.

Currently, all the records are kept in manual files, which, according to the Interior ministry, are prone to tampering and loss.

Last month, Mr Boinnet directed all county commissioners to prepare officers under their jurisdiction for the digital migration.

“What we need to do is to ensure that we capture all the biometrics digitally,” he told the Nation in an earlier interview.

A senior police officer told the Nation on Sunday that the digitisation plan was welcome.

FRAUDSTERS

Kisii County Police Commander Bernard Muli said that all was set and the officers had already been well-informed about it.

"It is a great idea and our officers in Kisii are eagerly waiting for it," Mr Muli said. According to him, some of the benefits of having the data stored digitally include being able to do away with all fake police officers.

The move will also enable the public to authenticate right from their gadgets and the internet whether one is a police officer or not.

The move to digitalise the police service started in mid last year, when police officers started using service standing orders, a digital platform that is already installed on their phones.

STANDARDS

In a letter written to Mr Boinnet, Dr Matiang’i said that it was necessary for the service to develop a digital Human Resource Information System.

“The system will help the service set high standards of efficiency, effectiveness and professionalism by bearing accurate, real time data on each officer,” part of the letter read.

Dr Matiang’i said that the records would assist the service to accurately track the career mobility, deployment status and performance of all police officers.

The digital data will contain various categories, which range from their biodata to information about their education level.

Under the biodata category, National Police Service employees will provide their date of birth, name, tribe, gender, type of employee, whether civilian or uniformed, height, eye colour and identification marks.