CCTV to become standard in all police stations, Murkomen announces

The Ministry of Interior and National Administration has reaffirmed its commitment to police reform and enhanced accountability across Kenya’s security sector, announcing that CCTV surveillance will be mandatory in all police stations nationwide within the next two years.

Speaking during his address on the state of security in the country, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen stated that the decision to implement this nationwide rollout of surveillance was reached after consultations and reflection on past and present incidents of police misconduct.

“It will now be mandatory to equip police stations with CCTV surveillance to enhance transparency and accountability. All the police stations in Kenya, currently standing at 1209, shall have CCTV surveillance within the next two years,” he said.

This announcement follows growing public concern regarding the mysterious death of Albert Ojwang in the hands of security officers, an incident currently under investigation. Murkomen noted that these reforms are aimed at ensuring greater visibility and oversight of law enforcement actions within police precincts.

And in an effort to ensure the integrity of the CCTV systems, Murkomen stated that his Ministry will propose legislation to criminalize the tampering, disabling, or obstruction of CCTV equipment within police facilities. The systems will be directly overseen by the Officer Commanding Station (OCS), who will be held personally accountable for their functionality.

“We shall be making proposals to Parliament to enact laws that criminalize tampering with CCTV cameras in police stations,” CS Murkomen confirmed.

Furthermore, he says any faults in CCTV systems will need to be reported within one hour, and the infrastructure will include external backup systems to safeguard recorded data.

The Interior CS pointed out that some police stations already have CCTV systems installed, but these were locally initiated.

“Current stations that have CCTV surveillance are not fully sanctioned by the National Police Service. It was the initiative of the individual police stations. Now this shall be mandatory for the entire police stations and other police stations that shall be constructed,” he said.

Additionally, the CS committed to rolling out the digitization of Occurrence Books (OBs) over the next year, ensuring that incident reporting is secureand tamper-proof.

At the same time, Murkomen announced that there will be continuous professional development training for all officers, beginning with the OCSs, to restore professionalism, discipline, and service excellence across all ranks.

He also indicated that there will be mandatory community policing initiatives in every police station to improve police-citizen relations.

In the meantime, Murkomen reiterated the need for mutual respect between the police and the public, reminding that civilians, too, are subject to accountability under the law.

“As we relentlessly advocate for appropriate conduct by the police, there must be a reciprocal emphasis on the responsibility of citizens to show respect toward police officers as they discharge their lawful duties,” he said.

“Just as police officers are held accountable and subjected to public scrutiny, citizens, too, must accept that their actions are not beyond reproach,” the CS added.