Under-staffed police posts, patrol bases ordered shut
All police posts and patrol bases with less than six officers have been ordered closed and the officers deployed to the mother stations.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Kenya Police Service Edward Mbugua yesterday said such officers were unable to provide services to the public as expected.
“It has come to my knowledge that there are police posts and patrol bases which are being manned by an inadequate number of officers and therefore unable to provide services as expected,” Mbugua said.
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He directed that such areas be policed by officers from the mother stations
“You are directed to recall those officers and deploy them to their mother stations.
Security within the affected areas will be provided by sending officers on patrols,” he directed.
Post raided
His directive comes just a day after unknown people raided Kirimon police post in Samburu Central and stole two G3 rifles –serial numbers A01278 and A04499 –together with two magazines loaded with a total of 40 rounds of ammunition.
The Samburu county police commander said that unknown people raided the post on Tuesday at around 9.30pm and broke the door of the armoury before stealing the firearms. They shot one round in the air as they were leaving.
The post had only four officers and at the time of the incident, there was one officer at the post who had gone to his house, leaving the post unmanned.
Constable Dickson Mandera Mauti said while in his house he heard the door of the office and the armoury being broken into and he assumed it was the in charge of the post, Sergeant Thomas Letilit, who was breaking the door.
The officer said he assumed it was his senior because he had in the past broken the door several times after losing the keys.
Shortly after, he heard a gunshot and checked outside but did not see anything.
He then got out and proceeded to the office where he found the door having been broken and the steel box used as the armoury wide open.
Immediately an operation led by the County Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) was launched.
Investigations revealed that there was no officer manning the report office and the armoury.
Sergeant Letilit, who was not present during the time of the incident claimed he had rushed home and left two officers at the post, Constables Mauti and Samwel Alma.
No officer on site
The Occurrence Book (OB) entries indicated that Constable Mauti was on duty from 6am to 5.56pm when he handed over to Constable Alma who, however, claimed that he was not on duty and never took over from his colleague.
Detectives recovered one spent cartridge of G3 rifle, a broken padlock and a door latch outside the police post.
The police service underwent a major restructuring in 2019 that saw 23,900 AP officers formally join the Kenya Police Service.
The restructuring has significantly reduced cases of overlapping mandates with stations realigned for effective policing in line with the security demands.
