National Police Service Commission has developed a Police Recruitment System that will serve as a centralised digital platform designed to transform the recruitment process and reduce incidence of corruption. 

National Police Service Commission Acting Chair, Commissioner Edwin Cheluget, says the recruitment system would streamline every stage of recruitment from submission of application, shortlisting, assessment, selection and appointment, ensuring real time data validation, accountability and efficiency. 

“The commission is pleased to announce to the public that it has developed a centralized digital platform designed to transform the recruitment process for police and significantly reduce cases of corruption,” he said.

Cheluget said the development of the system aims at addressing challenges occasioned by the manual recruitment system, which relies entirely on physical applications, in person assessments and paper based record keeping.

He, however, did not provide details of how the system is going to work. Similar attempts to digitise health services and university student loans applications have been marked with complaints of discrimination and unexplained ineligibility.

He observed that while the approach has been the norm for decades, it has posed significant challenges among them susceptibility to malpractices such as corruption and nepotism, in addition to logistical inefficiencies, data inaccuracies and long processing times.

“Going forward, we will be adopting more technological and progressive methods including adopting a digitised recruitment that will be able to shorten the time of the process and reduce cost and corruption implication that come with the recruitment process that has been going on in previous years,” he said. 

He divulged that they were progressively trying to embrace technology and going forward, the Commission would equip the human resource part of the National Police Service in terms of promotions, recruitment and disciplinary control that is carried out within the mandate of the Commission.

“The modernized digital system is a programme that has been worked on for close to two years now and it is being processed and finalised by including other stakeholders the Ministry of ICT and the Digital Economy by ensuring that the process is performed to its optimum,” he said.

The Commissioner said the programme is going to be a game changer in terms of ensuring the recruitment process is smooth and all other activities of the commission are performed to the optimal capability of the commission.

National Police Service Commission CEO Peter Leley said the system aims to simplify and expedite the recruitment process and ensure that the most qualified individuals are hired. Leley said the recruitment system developed has largely removed human interaction and automated major parts of the process so that integrity could be enhanced.

“This digital system will reduce human interaction, and reduce corruption and bribery thus enhancing transparency of the police recruitment process,” he said.

He explained that the digital recruitment system would include online applications and automated shortlisting processes. Further, he said field-level recruitment would only involve shortlisted candidates, ensuring efficiency and fairness.

“When we go to the field, we will only be dealing with people who have already been shortlisted so that we don’t have so many people hence shortening the time spent in the process,” he said adding that the Commission would carry out pre-recruitment clinics in low-connectivity areas.

He said that the Commission has also taken extensive cybersecurity measures, including firewalls and capacity enhancements to manage large volumes of data during the recruitment period.

Meanwhile, he said that the Commission is currently conducting interviews for 132 police officers in the rank of Chief Inspector to Assistant Superintendent of Police who successfully completed the Higher Training Course and Senior Training Course.

“The rigorous six-month training conducted at the National Police Service training campuses in Kiganjo and Emali, is designed to prepare officers for leadership roles in the National Police Service,” he said.

He said that the Commission assures the candidates of its commitment to a fair and transparent process and promotions.

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By Anita Omwenga

National Police Service Commission Acting Chair, Commissioner Edwin Cheluget (middle) speaking in Nairobi during a press briefing.