UNDERSTAFFED POLICE DEPARTMENT

Approximately 200 Police Officers serve the entire Kiambu District visa-a-vis 744, 000 residents a duty which area deputy Officer Commanding Police Station Division (OCPD), inspector Joseph Mutende says was a challenge.

Speaking during the revival of the Court Users Committee recently at a Kiambu Hotel, inspector Mutende raised concern over the ever growing population in the district while the number of police officers remained constant.

He added that the rate of crime and criminal offenses had risen overtime and thus the police department had been overwhelmed in trying to maintain law and order owing to the limited personnel.

While addressing the sitting, Inspector Mutende said that, lack of enough human resource had inconvenienced the court proceedings both directly and indirectly.

He went on to explain that police officers played a major role in trying to uphold order in a court room or to direct the public on how the court proceedings are to be conducted.

He further added that all prosecution officers were deployed by the Police Department and therefore, lack of qualified prosecution officers could lead to delayed court proceedings.

Currently, there is a shortage of prosecution officers at the Kiambu Law courts and at times, some magistrates have to wait for long before they can get a prosecutor who is free so as to continue with their proceedings.

On the general security, Inspector Mutende said that, under staffing had resulted to increased criminal activities amongst the youths who were unemployed.

“Most of the youths are now joining the illegal groups and sects like Mungiki and this has become a security issue”, he remarked.

He observed that issues to do with thuggery, consumption of illicit brews, and robbery with violence amongst others had almost become the order of the day.

When asked what action had been taken to counter the problem of insufficient staff, he asserted that the department had written several letters to the Police Commander requesting for more staff who were yet to be deployed.

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Chairing the meeting, the chief magistrate Mr. Stephen Kibunja concurred with the deputy OCPD on the issue to speed up staffing of the Prosecution department so as to enable the court to clear pending cases.

Ends