Police Spokesperson Charles Owino
Police Spokesperson Charles Owino on Wednesday clarified that the post of Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD) was not scrapped off as alleged but it was a change of name in line with the country’s devolution.
Reports by several media houses claimed that the post was scrapped off from the service following earlier changes by Inspector General Joseph Boinnet.
“No, they have not been scrapped, what has changed is the name following devolution. You know, OCPD meant officer commanding Division because Districts were termed as Divisions. But then, we no longer have Districts, we have sub-counties,” stated Owino.
According to the spokesman, the name has changed to the Sub-County Police Commanders(SCPCs) in line with the new police geographic and operational boundaries since devolution.
“What has changed is just the name. The person who was manning a district was called OCPD. The district still remains but now it is called a Sub-County. Simple, nothing has changed,” he clarified.
He, however, confirmed that in the new post, only one officer will be in charge unlike in the old administration where the district was commanded by a representative from the Administration Police and also from Kenya Police.
“You know we used to have officers in charge of Kenya Police at the district level, you would find an AP anasimamia na Police pia anasimamia, (you would find both an AP and a Kenya Police boss in charge) but now it is only one officer, you won’t find the AP representative,” he concluded.
