The National Police Service has announced that it will no longer provide security to those involved in crime until they are cleared by courts.

“To avoid compromise and demeaning the very essence of which the police is mandated, the NPS shall not provide security detail to VIPs who are involved or suspected to be involved in crime until they are cleared by the courts,” a statement from the office of the IG reads in part.

The announcement comes in the recent arrest of Embakasi East MP Babu Owino after he shot a DJ in a city Club early this week.

The police service has in the past been accused of designating a high number of police officers to VIP protection consequently leaving general members of the public with minimal police to civilian ratio.

Devolution did not make things any better as the increased number of leaders came with a demand for VIP security detail.

VIP-I-ZATION OF SECURITY IN KENYA

After the 2013 elections, the Daily Nation reported that the number of officers assigned to VIP protection shot to about 10,000, from an estimated average of 3,000 to 5,000 before the election.

Former chairman of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority Macharia Njeru had been among leaders who were vocal on criticizing the “VIP-i-zation” of police officers saying it was leaving citizens exposed.

Macharia Njeru had in a previous interview with the Kenya Forum called for a reassessment of The deployment strategy of VIP security as a matter of urgency.

“The current mode of operation has seen almost 10,000 police officers Deployed to non-core work, which leaves the public exposed. The deployment strategy should also be done based on risk assessment and not to merely satisfy ego-trips of politicians,” Mr Njeru said.

Scaling down the number of police officers attached to VIP protection was one of the major recommendations of the 2009 Ransley report on police reforms.

VIP SECURITY DETAIL SCALED DOWN

Last year, interior CS Fred Matiang’i issued a directive to scale down VIP security detail.

“We have to rationalise the way we deploy our police resources in the country. There is no County Government official anywhere in this country that needs 26 security officers to guard you. We cannot move a police station to your office,” then said Matiang’i , while speaking during the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) end -term report handover ceremony.

Governors were the first leaders to feel the impact of Matiang’i’s directive and their security detail was scaled down to five police officers.

Prior to the directive, some governors are said to have had as much as 26 police officers in their security detail.

NO POLICE ESCORT FOR CASH IN TRANSIT

Matiang’i at the same time had also announced to private security firms that the government will withdraw armed police from the Cash In Transit (CIT) business from July 2019.

VIP SECURITY DETAIL SCALED DOWN