Nyeri: The government plans to elevate the Kiganjo Police Training College in Nyeri into a fully fledged police university. Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen announced the move on Thursday, indicating the initiative aims to enhance police training and increase the professional capacity of officers in the National Police Service (NPS).
According to Kenya News Agency, the proposed upgrade will enable officers to earn degrees from the institution. Murkomen expressed hopes that in the long term, the transformation will turn the college into a regional center of excellence, fostering 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 stated.
Murkomen also revealed plans to revamp the police training curriculum to align with best policing practices. The new module will cover law, human rights, investigations, and emerging crime trends. He urged the Inspector General (IG) of police to expedite the completion of the National Training Policy for the National Police Service, which will guide state actions in revamping training facilities and equipping officers with necessary skills.
The CS noted that reforms within the NPS focus on improving institutional and human resource capacity, including technology adoption. Plans include transitioning from Integrated Command Control and Communication Centres to Integrated Command, Control, Communication and Computation Centres. Murkomen mentioned that the NPS is concluding a procurement process to establish one national command center and six regional centers in Nairobi, Nyeri, Mombasa, Kisumu, and Eldoret.
These centers aim to enhance urban monitoring with modern technology, surveillance cameras, and advanced communication systems. Future police stations will feature digital Occurrence Books, enabling digital crime reporting and analytics, including Artificial Intelligence, to better serve the public.
Murkomen spoke during a visit to the college to assess the progress of the Basic Recruit Training Course. He was joined by Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, his deputy Eliud Lagat, Central Region Commissioner Joshua Nkanatha, and the College’s Commandant Nyale Munga. The visit revealed that out of over 4,000 recruits, 54 had their course terminated for reasons including pregnancy, forged documents, health issues, disciplinary problems, and previous convictions.
Murkomen urged recruits to take their training seriously, emphasizing the importance of understanding modern security challenges, such as social media and artificial intelligence. ‘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,’ he said, highlighting the need for preparedness in tackling these challenges.
Source: Kenya News Agency
