We were picked based on physical traits and ability to run, Police officers tells on Digital OB strains

Mr Fidel Agai, the officer commanding Buruburu Police Station. PHOTO | NMG

 

Digital OB helps Police officers fasten the recording process. However, there have been challenges for some senior officers who are not tech-savvy.

Police stations are moving from old fashioned paperwork where Police stations were bangled with books from the 1960s.

The move comes after Judiciary installed Tech machines for cases in court. National Police Service being among the prosecutors, they had to upgrade.

“Some officers, as you know, were picked to join the service based on our physical attributes and ability to run. Meaning they don’t have training in computer use, so even typing is a challenge,” reveals an officer.


 Some have been found to have mixed up entries with wrong names.


“When an officer who is not conversant with computers is on duty at the reporting office, it becomes messy and crowded. We indeed received training, but that lasted just a day, so the ones who are slow at learning are still lagging,” adds the officer.

However, a senior officer offers that any station that assigns the role of making entries to an officer who is not competent in computer use is failing at their leadership roles.


“Why bring someone illiterate to do something that requires time to learn? That is an element of sabotage and a reaction to losing the benefits of dragging a case, which includes creating room for bribery,” says the officer.


The state allocated 210 desktops, officers in Nairobi were equipped with 10,181 locally assembled tablets, which they use to make entries of reports made remotely.


The tablets are on prepaid data and are designed such that they can only be used for OB entries. This means they can retain their charge for longer hours because they cannot be used for surfing the internet and on social media.

However, only one officer can use his login entry respectively. Police officers do not use others credentials as everyone is liable to his /her account monitored by IPOA, NPS top organ among other top officials.


They are also fitted with a one-time-use code that expires when the screen goes on sleep mode.


“No one else can come and login using the same code. This helps with securing the entries made,” says Mr Fidel Agai, the officer commanding Buruburu Police Station.


In Buruburu, Kasarani and Lang’ata police stations, scenes of officers shouting at people coming to file complaints and check on the progress of investigations and those of officers loudly asking for pens to make their entries are strangely absent.