Kamukuji police station named as headquarters of Nairobi Metropolitan Police Unit

Kamukunji police station has been proposed as the headquarters of the Nairobi Metropolitan Police Unit that is currently being formed to tackle crime in Nairobi.

The directive to form the Unit composed of police officers drawn from the National Police Service and Nairobi County was issued in February by President Ruto during the signing of Cooperation Agreement between the County and National government.

As part of the ongoing preparations a team from the Ministry of Interior on Friday visited the Kamukunji  police station for a fact-finding mission ahead of some scheduled construction of some operation units within the station to accommodate more workforce.

The visit was led by Secretary for Internal Security, Thomas Sakah alongside technical team comprising representatives from the Kenya Defence Forces, Kenya Police Service.

Other officials were from the Administration Police Service, Nairobi City County Government and the State Department for Housing and Urban Development on a site assessment to determine its suitability.

“Kamukunji is one of Nairobi’s clearest representations of the city’s role as Kenya’s commercial and financial centre but operating within a complex urban security environment,” the Ministry of Interior said in a statement

Adding, “The station will be transformed into a modern security complex incorporating operational offices and police housing,”

The headquarters will also host the Integrated Command and Communication Centre (IC4) for real time coordination, communication and surveillance within Nairobi City County.

Earlier, the headquarters had been proposed to be set up at City Cabanas alongside control rooms of smart cameras but according to Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja, he proposed Kakunji since it is a central point.

“Kamukunji is strategically located in one of the city’s most densely populated areas on the eastern side of Nairobi, commonly referred to as Eastlands. Its central location makes it an ideal base for the Nairobi Metropolitan Police Unit,” Sakaja stated

Adding, “Following benchmarking visits to New York and London, we have already made significant progress toward establishing the unit. A new modern station is scheduled for construction,”

In June, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen and governor Sakaja were in New York York for a benchmarking mission where they were taken through presentations on how NYPD tracks crime trends, and deters crime in the five boroughs of New York City.

“We are taking these lessons and best practices back home as we gear up for the establishment of the Nairobi Metropolitan Police Unit,” Murkomen stated

Adding, “Our goal is to build a modern, professional, and technology-driven police unit capable of effectively responding to emerging security threats and safeguarding our city and its environs,”

Some officials privy to the formation of the Metropolitan Police Unit say about 700 police officers will be first deployed after undergoing rigorous training stating that the inspectorate officers who travelled to New York will help in drafting operation guidelines.

The officers will be recruited from different police units and taken through a refresher course specifically tackling urban criminal activities citing that the setting up of the unit is long-term.

This is aimed at ensuring that they embrace community engagement so as to strengthen partnerships between law enforcement and residents, improve intelligence gathering and enhance public confidence.

“The goal of taking them for training is to make them flexible on how to handle civilians, they will not operate like normal police officers and their uniform will be different,” he added

According to NPS insider privy to the structure guiding the rollout, the unit is expected to tackle armed robberies, drug trafficking, and extortion rings among others vices.