End of dreaded Flying Squad as Kinoti forms ‘Sting’ team

The Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti summoned the officers to his office where he made the announcement.

All police officers at the dreaded Flying Squad unit have been moved once again and the team disbanded.

This is the second time in two years that the crack unit is being restructured.

The Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti summoned the officers to his office where he made the announcement.

“The Directorate of Criminal Investigations wishes to inform the public that after disbanding all the Flying Squad Sub-units within the country, only the headquarters unit based in Nairobi remained. With effect from today, the unit has equally been disbanded,” a statement from the DCI said.

It added: “This marks the end of the Flying Squad and no officer will present himself or herself to the public as such. Equally, the Special Crime Prevention Unit (SCPU) has been scaled down to a smaller unit only based in Nairobi.”

Mr Kinoti said the unit has been renamed Special Service Unit (SSU) and officers deployed in the unit have undergone intense training in and outside the country leading to upgrading of their competencies, enhanced skills and knowledge aimed at making the unit more effective.

Kinoti said to replace the Flying Squad and create an auxiliary support team on identified, researched and profiled crimes, another squad has been formed and named Sting Squad Headquarters (SSH) that will have a maximum of 50 specialised trained officers who will respond to specific cases.

“The cases include armed robberies, kidnappings, motor vehicle theft, sale and distribution of contraband and substandard goods,” he said.

Intelligence-driven operations

Before they are assembled, the competitively-selected officers will undertake specialised courses within and outside the country touching on their core areas of operation. Both squads, SSU) and SSH, will be linked directly to the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau for intelligence-driven operations alongside other augmenting units.

The more than 60 officers who have been working under the unit were asked to surrender government wares, which include weapons and handcuffs and await further communication on where they will be posted.

Head of the unit Musa Yego will now be based at the DCI headquarters while his deputy Jack Owino was moved to Embu and named the local DCIO.

Officials said four officers remained at the unit to manage transition.