-
He directed the information be brought to the attention of all Prosecution Counsel.
-
This comes amid a push to have agencies doing oversight on police be made more independent and powerful.
Image: PCS
Police will no longer investigate themselves in all forms of crimes involving them.
This follows a directive by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions that all cases/matters involving police officers be referred to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, to undertake independent and comprehensive investigations pursuant to IPOA's statutory mandate.
“Upon completion of investigations, the resultant inquiry files should be forwarded to the ODPP headquarters for purposes of deciding whether or not to prosecute,” said an internal memo at the ODPP.
Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Victor Mule issued the directive in an internal memo to regional heads dated November 4.
He directed the information be brought to the attention of all Prosecution Counsel.
This comes amid a push to have agencies doing oversight on police be made more independent and powerful.
Police have been handling some cases internally which was opposed by some insiders.
The directive means the prosecutors will only handle files on police issues originating from IPOA.
IPOA works with the Internal Affairs Unit to check on police excesses.
The task force on police reforms that was led by former Chief Justice David Maraga said to address the junior officers’ complaints of being subjected to multiple disciplinary processes, Parliament should amend Section 87 of the National Police Service Act.
The team also called for competitive recruitment of the IAU director, secure the tenure of the director and clearly state the director’s mandate.
The Maraga team also recommended the decentralisation of the IAU’s functions.
It recommended the express authorization of the IAU to enforce discipline and professional standards within the NPS.
“The NPS Act should be further amended to focus the functions of IAU on strictly disciplinary offences and not criminal matters that fall within the purview of DCI and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority,” the team said.
IPOA chair Anne Makori said the authority appreciates the achievements of the task force for its consideration of 26 past IPOA reports on monitoring and inspections, which sought to address police welfare, tooling and equipment, housing, remuneration and automation of all policing services and general professionalism in the Service.
“IPOA offers unequivocal support towards the implementation of the report bearing in mind that matters that would improve the welfare of police officers, and further enhance day-to-day operations of the NPS, would lead to a better police service that is citizen-centric,” she said.
The mandate of IPOA includes to investigate deaths and serious injuries caused by police action and to investigate police misconduct.
It also monitors, reviews and audits investigations and actions by IAU of the police and conducts inspections of police premises.
IPOA also monitors and investigates policing operations and deployment and reviews the functioning of the internal disciplinary process.
IPOA had proposed to the Maraga team that its mandate be expanded to cover Prisons, Forestry, Kenya Wildlife Services and the Coast Guard, to professionalise them through oversight.
Currently, the IPOA mandate is specific to the police.
It may only extend to the prison officers if they are discharging policing duties.
The Maraga team was told the ongoing digitisation of the Occurrence Book should be extended to all police records and in the absence of Digital OB, all pages in the physical OB should be serialised.
To enhance efficiency and accountability, IPOA recommended that cash bail management be digitised.
The service should also maintain a database of former officers including full details of their skills and knowledge.
IPOA recommended the National Coroners’ Service Act be operationalised and harmonised with both the Police and IPOA Acts on the preservation of evidence.
It also recommended that policies should be developed to address systemic issues including bribery, impunity and extra-judicial killings