Be ready to use a digital Occurrence Book, Matiangi tells police

Deputy Inspector General AP Noor Gabow (left), Interior CS Fred Matiangi (centre), Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet (right) during a meeting with Police Commanders at the Kenya School Of Government, Nairobi. [Wilberforce Okwiri/Standard]

Police should be ready to use digital occurrence books in their fight against crime, the Government has said.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i said this would enhance real-time reporting of crime hence better management.

“This will help officers to manage and address some of the reported issues in real time. Embrace the digital OB, which is on the way,” he said.

Dr Matiang'i said manual occurrence books were cumbersome and made it difficult to obtain instant information on the nature of prevailing crimes in different parts in the country.

He said a digital OB would ensure efficient collection of data that could be accessed instantly for formulation of effective response strategies.

At a meeting in Nairobi yesterday, the CS told police commanders that they could now access guidelines - service standing orders - on their mobile phones.

This followed the launch of the service standing orders mobile application that will be available on Google Play Store. Only serving police officers can access the application.

Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet termed the move a giant leap towards digitisation of the police service.

Matiang'i also said the State was equipping a forensic laboratory at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters.

He added that the Government Chemist had been moved to the police service to help them investigate crime.

“We are happy to have the Government Chemist now under us. This will greatly help in management of crime,” he said, adding that DCI boss George Kinoti was on a lab equipment benchmarking trip in Sudan.

Meanwhile, President Uhuru Kenyatta will today receive a report outlining major planned structural changes in the National Police Service.

The report details new police posts and a command structure that will see integration and merging of services.

Proposed changes

Matiang'i said the President would advice on the proposed changes.

“We are set for the needed transformation and urge every one of you to support the exercise. It is for the good of us all."

The changes will see 22,000 Administration Police officers join their regular counterparts.

The group will be debriefed before being retrained at the Kenya Police Training College, Kiganjo and at the Administration Police Training College.

On national examinations, Matiang'i said his ministry would support the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) to prevent cheating.

“We will support Knec in delivering a clean exam and I urge the security agencies to ensure no cheating is allowed,” he said.

The Teachers Service Commission has already issued a warning to staff, saying there will be no space for errors this year.

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