By Jackie Kwanusu
IMLU hosted a strategic meeting which saw the convergence of Officers in Charge of Stations (OCSs) and Community Policing Committees (CPCs) Chairpersons from Kongoni, Keringet (Nakuru County), Mukurweini, Mweiga ( Nyeri County), Kisumu Central, Kondele( Kisumu County), Garbatulla and Kina(Isiolo Counties.)
This strategic collaborative meeting sought to bring together the stakeholders involved in the community policing committees to harvest the results of this great collaboration in the counties while identifying the steps to be taken in the next coming year.
Our spirit of community partnership is operationalized through a people-centred approach where every citizen becomes an active ally in addressing basic crime risk factors. Through this arrangement, security consumers are provided with a platform, as outlined in the National Police Service’s community policing communication booklet, with IMLU spearheading its development. The 21st Century Policing principles are built on the realization that the police are no longer the sole guardians of law and order in society. The dynamic nature of the policing environment in our Country makes police work a complex business. For the National Police Service to adequately face this challenge, we must constantly seek to embrace policing strategies that meet the emerging security needs of our people, now and in future.
Speaker after speaker, IMLU’s efforts of financing and bringing together the stakeholders were echoed as a key achievement aimed at solving insecurity at the grassroots levels, a case in point, in Garbatulla in Isiolo county, the militia groups who used to see the police as “NYAP” loosely translated as an enemy in the local dialect, have been able to embrace and listen to the police officers and in return reducing the animosity and enmity associated with the police which is a gain of Community policing committees.\
IMLU enhanced the effectiveness of community policing committees and community dialogues as advocacy tools by reducing police constraints during the August 2022 elections. During the run-up to the 2022 elections, we trained regional commanders on public order management, incorporating community dialogues as a tool to encourage the masses to speak out against human rights violations. Looking to the future, IMLU will support this great achievement meant at tackling issues of insecurity and sexual gender-based violence (SGBV) by fostering a more people-based partnership, so we are better together.