Huge Police Operations Boost as IG Boinnet appoints new commanders

New police commanders were on Tuesday revealed in changes the Inspector-General said were aimed at boosting police operations.

Some 322 new Officers Commanding Police Division were named in the changes announced by Inspector General of police Joseph Boinnet.In the changes, Central Division got Stanley Atvachi as new OCPD. In DCI, Mr Bernard Nyakwaka was named the County Criminal Investigations Officer in Nairobi to replace Nicholas Kamwende while Kamukunji was elevated to a full division and Adamson Bungei named as the OCPD .

In the changes, the Administration Police Service got 100 slots. The changes are part of the reforms that have been proposed.

The new changes began with the change of the command structure with the collapse of parallel commanders for the APS, Kenya Police and DCI all of the same rank thus making overall command challenging.

The service has been having Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of the same rank as commanders for regional APS, KPS and DCI commands Commissioners of Police as county commanders for APS, KPS and DCI and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) at Sub County level. All hierarchy has been removed and there is one senior commander at all levels with the rest a rank junior than the commander.

Although there will still be senior DCI officers at all levels of command, they will be one rank below their General Duty commander. About 24,000 general duty APS officers have been transferred to general duties in Kenya Police Service stations.

And all AP camps will be transformed into police posts and stations. All Anti Stock Theft Unit (ASTU) KPS officers have been moved to APS which has been left with four units including ASTU, Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU), Border Patrol Unit (BPU) and Critical Infrastructure and Security of Government Buildings unit.

All specialized unit officers who include ASTU, RDU RBPU are being issued with the General Service Unit (GSU) like combat uniform as their operational clothing while general duty officers will have the new blue uniforms.

While the specialized units will have the same operating area uniform whose role out is immediate, the general duty uniform will be rolled out gradually because of the huge number of those involved. And to reduce wastage, it has been resolved that most of the 3200 leased police vehicles will be available for patrol following the Presidential directive to reduce wastage.