Uhuru Kenyatta makes major changes in police

President Uhuru Kenyatta has taken police reforms a step further by announcing radical changes that he said should grant Kenya “a new service”.

The changes touch on the command, uniform, housing and training in Administration Police, Kenya Police and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

The reforms include integration of functions, rebranding, renaming and scrapping of some positions.

Here is a breakdown of the changes Mr Kenyatta announced at the Kenya School of Government in Nairobi:

• 12 senior police positions scrapped, including AP regional commander, Kenya Police regional commander, DCI regional commander, Kenya Police county commander, AP county commander, DCI county commander, sub-county commanders from all the three arms on the National Police Service , OCPD, district AP commander and AP ward commander.

• These positions will be replaced by integrated Police Geo Boundaries and placed under unified commands, namely regional police command, one county police command, and one sub-county police command.

• Rebranding and renaming of the different police training colleges, with Kenya Police Training College being renamed the Kenya Police College Kiganjo Campus; AP Training College renamed National Police College Embakasi A Campus, as GSU Training College becomes National Police College Embakasi B Campus.

• Deputy Inspector-General in charge of the Kenya Police to focus on public safety and security.

• Deputy Inspector-General in charge of Administration Police to deal with protective and border security.

• To eliminate waste, 39,680 Kenya Police officers and 24,572 Administration Police officers to be put under the General Police Service and will work under the command of the DIG in charge of the Kenya Police.

• All police officers to undergo refresher training to help them better understand the new structure and functions.

• Scaling up of Security of Government Buildings Unit, which has been under the AP service, from 4,773 to 8,280 officers and the increase of Anti Stock Theft Unit, ASTU, officers to 5,000. All these officers will take commands from the DIG in charge of the Administration Police.

• Junior officers to lose free housing in 90 days. They will have to vacate houses in police lines and start receiving a house allowance.

• New uniform unveiled. It consists of a Persian-blue shirt / blouse, Persian-blue pair of trousers and a beret of the same colour. Mr Kenyatta said the change from Navy blue and jungle green colours was to make police "more visible". "IG Joseph Boinnet should implement these changes with immediate effect. The Treasury should also operationalise financial provisions with immediate effect," he said.

• The regular police, DCI and APs housed in the same facilities will be under a single command. A majority of the AP officers will be absorbed into the Kenya Police Service while others will be absorbed in Anti-Stock Theft Unit (ASTU). The few that will remain will have their duties redefined.

  AP camps and chief’s camps where a majority of the APs are stationed will be gazetted as police stations. The regular police, DCI and APs housed in the same facilities will be under a single command.