Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji and Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti have launched a new digital Occurrence Book.
A new police digital Occurrence Book was launched yesterday in Nairobi’s Buruburu Police Station in the function presided over by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i.
DPP Haji ststed that the heads of institutions do not have to be seen together for people to know they are working together.
DCI boss Kinoti and DPP Haji have been at loggerheads and their differences have even played out in public.
Last week on Tuesday, DCI boss Kinoti snubbed a high-level government function organised by the DPP Haji to launch the new policy guidelines on prosecutions.
Also gracing the launch of a digital police OB held at Buru Buru Police Station was Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai.
Their differences were shelved as Haji praised the digitisation of the police OB.
“This will make our work easy in the event that there was need to produce electronic evidence in court,” Haji said.
Kasarani and Buru Buru police stations are the first to fully automate their OBs. The automation will be implemented in police stations across the country.
Under the digital platform, officers at the police station level will key in public complaints electronically and also issue OB reports electronically.
Police station commanders will be required to assign cases electronically. Station commanders will use this system to monitor cases and performance of their officers by simply logging in to the system.
According to the Ministry of Interior, the new digital OB systems have a provision where police officers will take photos of suspects before they are booked into police cells.
According to CS Matiang’i, this new feature is aimed at addressing cases where suspects claim to have been tortured or assaulted by the police.
The lanuch means it’s now mandatory for police officers to take photos of suspects before they go into the cells and also give a description of their state at the time of arrest.
Moreover, the Police IG will be able to monitor which case has been reported, who the investigating officer is and the progress of the investigations and also other features such as leave days and working shifts for cops.
Deputy Inspector General Edward Mbugua, under whose command the regular police fall, will also have access to all matters relating to his officers but will not access matters related to the DCI and the AP.
Haji said the integration of the police OB to the NTSA, his newly created electronic case-management system and the electronic filing system by the judiciary will redefine policing in Kenya.
“It will provide a holistic approach to security in the country. The ODPP will work together in enhancing public confidence in access to justice”.
