New Formation: NPS establishes Judicial Police Unit tasked with guarding judicial officers and premises

NAIROBI,Kenya, Aug, 16 – A new police unit has been formed to protect judicial officers and the Judiciary premises across the country.

The Judicial Police Unit (JPU) has been formed following consultations between the inspector General of Police Hilary Mutyambai and the leadership of the judiciary led by Chief Justice Martha Koome.

A police Station will be established at the Supreme Court to coordinate operations of all 121 work stations of the judiciary in the country.

The judiciary police Station will have personnel from all formations in the country.

A memo circulated to the National Police Service detailed the roles and functions of the Judicial Police Unit.

The new unit will pick officers from the regular police and the Administration Police Service, according to the memo.

It will be similar to others such as the Parliament Police and those guarding government installations.

It is understood the head of the unit will be based at the Judiciary where he/she will coordinate his/her juniors to protect courts and other judicial buildings.

Officials said APS’ Lazurus Opicho has been named as the head of the unit for now.

The issue had been in the works for long with officials working on modalities to mobilise it. It involves identifying an officer to be the head and drawing their main roles.

The National Police Service protects major installations in the country including parliament, judiciary and major government departments. A number of independent offices have special teams seconded there to run various security affairs.