Service moves to arrest brain drain within police
All specialists to be recruited into the National Police Service (NPS) will have to serve for at least 10 years before they are allowed to exit.
Policy direction by the NPS is expected to deal with brain drain experienced in the past, according to National Police Service Commission chairperson Eliud Kinuthia.
The service is expected to recruit 4,700 Constables and 300 specialists, as Cadet Inspectors.
Of the 4,700 recruits, 2,400 will join the Administration Police Service (APS) while the other 2,300 will join the General Service Unit (GSU).
The current recruitment is expected to meet policing demands and is driven more by the recruits’ skills.
The NPSC chair Kinuthia yesterday said brain drain has been a major challenge in retaining talent within the service.
Most professionals usually exit the service for greener pastures since salary in NPS is still pegged on the rank and to some extent the length of service.
Kinuthia yesterday said the service needed to match skills to the hiring needs.
He however said that the specialists would be trained for free and it was only fair that they serve before they consider exiting the service.
“It will be a loss for us if they come and leave in, for example, two years,” he said.
Police spokesman Charles Owino said the Kenya Police Service will not be recruiting as it already had about 74,000 officers.
“The Kenya Police Service got an extra 24,000 officers who were absorbed from the AP Service after the 2019 restructuring,” Owino said.
Under the new structure, the APS formed units include; Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU), Border Police Unit (BPU), APS Stock Theft Prevention Unit (APS - ASTU) and Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit (CIPU). On the other hand, GSU is now a formed unit under KPS.
While KPS deals with public security and safety, APS on the other hand focusses on protective and border security.
NPSC chairman said the recruitment will take place in the 290 constituencies and both at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters and the National Youth Service (NYS) headquarters in Nairobi.
