Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo now says that the ratio of police officers to citizens in Kenya is way below the internationally accepted ration of 1 cop to 400 people.
While responding to questions on abductions and the daytime robberies witnessed on Tuesday during President William Ruto’s second day of Nairobi tour, Omollo said that while it is the responsibility of the police to maintain law and order, the available resources in many instances force them to find a balance.
“We have a responsibility to maintain law and order, we have to balance… Look at what resources are available at the disposal of the government,” he said on Spice FM.
The PS for instance noted that Kenya has not achieved the internationally accepted standard ration of police officers to civilians.
Omollo said Kenya has a population of over 55 million people with a police service of about 110,000 officers.
He added that with this number of officers, it also becomes difficult to have them stationed all over the country because of the size of Kenya.
“Our ratio of police officers to Kenyans, we are definitely way outside what internationally is acceptable which should be about 1:400. Now, in a population of over 55 million Kenyans, you have about 110,000 police officers.
“Look at the size of the country, it becomes almost impossible to have police in each and every corner.”
An analysis by the Star revealed that with the estimated population size and the available police offers stated by PS Omollo, the ratio of police to civilians currently stands at 1:500.
During President Ruto and Deputy President Kithure Kindiki’s tour of Mathare and later Roysambu Constituencies, a section of youths believed to be goons went to Thika Road where they forcefully robbed motorists.
The executive’s presence in the area had affected traffic in the area. Thika Road was rendered impassable for some time.
