IPOA Details How Corrupt Officers Manipulate Forensic Investigations
The Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) has called for reforms in the manner in which the National Police Service (NPS) conducts investigations, citing the agency’s observation that continuous interference compromises the integrity of criminal investigations.
In its submissions to the National Dialogue Committee (NDC), the agency, through its chairperson Anne Makori, urged the NPS to ensure the integrity of investigations, particularly at the National Police Forensic Laboratory, expressing concern that corrupt police officers frequently manipulate investigations.
The agency disclosed that police reports provided to them are sometimes altered in favor of the officers under investigation, thereby compromising their independence.
Therefore, IPOA has expressed skepticism regarding the laboratory’s current findings.
“We have proposed that this forensic laboratory should be given autonomy away from DCI so that it does its job. Not only for the police but many other organizations would want to use that lab including the national govt chemist and other institutions,” IPOA noted in its submissions.
The agency also argued that IPOA’s work is hindered by the lab’s location within NPS because the DCI is a police agency.
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IPOA referred to the murder of two brothers in Lwanda, Vihiga County, to support its case.
“Why would a professional police officer continue to inflict injury to somebody whom they have already subdued instead of either arresting the person and going and processing the crime, is it frustration inwardly?”
The agency argued that the Inspector General of Police lacked leadership by failing to ensure that the lab conducts impregnable investigations.
IPOA stated in its submissions that it had received 237 complaints and that 57 fatalities had been formally recorded during the anti-government demonstrations that rocked the country between March and July 2023.
In their submissions, the authority also called for the implementation of the two-thirds gender rule in the NPS and streamlined budgetary allocation for enhanced policing services.
IPOA also examined an audit report of policing operations conducted during the 2022 presidential elections and made suggestions for addressing Kenyans’ concerns regarding the high cost of living.
IPOA Details How Corrupt Officers Manipulate Forensic Investigations