Kenya will elevate Kiganjo Police Training College to a fully-fledged police university, the first of its kind in East Africa.

While making the announcement, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said the decision is informed by desire to strengthen police training and scale up the professional capacity of officers in the National Police Service (NPS).

Hitherto, police officers have had to enrol in public universities for further studies, which comes with challenges such as tuition fees because the state does not provide for private studies of its personnel.

Further, the cabinet secretary said that the proposed upgrade would allow officers to earn degrees from the institutions. In the long-term, Murkomen said the government hops the upgrade will transform the police training college into a regional centre of excellence that will also serve as a hub for regional and international collaboration.

“We think it is now time that we upgrade this institution from just a mere training college to become a police university, so that police officers can have an institution where largely we are training them up to the university level to get their degree from this institution,” he said.

“But also we shall be a resource centre for other police officers in the region from other Policing Services in East Africa, Africa and beyond and therefore through this institution we can put in place better exchange programmes with other policing and training institutions globally.

So, we will continue training our police officers to be the best in the world,” Murkomen pledged.

He also revealed that the government is in the process of revamping the police training curriculum to align it with the best policing practices.

The cabinet secretary said that the new module will see police recruits receive training in the law, human rights, investigations and emerging trends of crime. He urged the Inspector General of Police to expedite completion of the National Training Policy for National Police Service, which will act as a guide for the state, even as it moves to revamp police training facilities across the country, as well as equip police officers with the requisite skills to execute their duties.

“I am hoping by the time we come here with President William Ruto for the passing-out parade, we should be able to have launched a new training policy strategy, that will capture the issues that the people of Kenya came-up with during the Jukwaa la Usalama, so that we can be able to move forward as a strong institution,” Murkomen said.

The cabinet secretary noted that the government is undertaking serious reforms within the NPS that will focus on improving the institutional and human resource capacity.

He also outlined on-going reforms including the adoption of technology in the police service.

He said the reforms include migration from the Integrated Command Control and Communication Centres to adoption of Integrated Command, Control, Communication and Computation Centres.

Murkomen revealed that the NPS is currently at the tail end of the procurement process, which will see the creation of one national command centre and six regional centres in Nairobi, Nyeri, Mombasa, Kisumu and Eldoret.

“The centres will harness modern technology that includes surveillance cameras and advanced communication systems to enhance coordination and ensure urban areas are comprehensively monitored, while police stations are equipped with up-to-date digital infrastructure,” he said.

“The next model police station from next year will have a digital Occurrence Book, where Kenyans will report crime digitally and we will be able to know and get reports using digital gadgets in the police station. That will help us to serve the people better,” he observed.

It also means that we will have analytics including Artificial Intelligence that will tell us which areas have what concentration of crime. Those kind of reforms are the ones that will make sure that the environment for police will be better,” he said.

Murkomen spoke during a visit to the college to assess the progress of the Basic Recruit Training Course. He was accompanied by the Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and his deputy Eliud Lagat, Central Region Commissioner Joshua Nkanatha and the College’s Commandant Nyale Munga.

During the visit, it also emerged that out of the over 4,000 recruits who had reported to the institution in November last year, 54 had their course terminated due to various reasons. The recruits are set to pass out in September this year.

A total of 18 female recruits had been sent home owing to pregnancy and pregnancy related issues, 18 due to forged academic certificates, two were kicked-out for forging identification documents, two on health conditions, three disciplinary issues,10 previous convictions and one own volition due to sickness.

In his address, Murkomen urged the recruits to take their training seriously, adding that the government is banking on them to support its efforts in maintaining law and order.

He also stressed on the importance of understanding emerging trends specifically Social Media and Artificial intelligence, in tackling the modern security challenges.

“The men and women who we will send out to keep order must be ready for a world that does not stand still. Crime is increasingly sophisticated, borderless and technology driven.

We are facing many challenges including from Generation Z. You must as a police officer be fully prepared to respond effectively,” he said.

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By Wangari Mwangi and Samuel Maina