Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen inspects a parade mounted by police officers in Naivasha on February 18, 2026. He said investigations on chaos that erupted in Kitengela during a rally by Edwin Sifuna and that led to the death of one man on Sunday is ongoing. BONIFACE MWANGI/NATION
A day after the National Government signed a cooperation pact with the Nairobi County Government, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen outlined how the newly proposed Nairobi Metropolitan Police Unit, expected to be established within the next two months, will operate.
This comes after President William Ruto directed Murkomen to develop a framework for the specialised police unit to address rising insecurity, which has become a hindrance to the smooth running of the capital.
“Part of our plans is to ensure that we incorporate the business community in the city, largely because we want their CCTV systems to be interoperable with police systems, so that investigations can be carried out quickly when issues arise,” said Murkomen.
The Interior Cabinet Secretary further explained the ministry’s plan to upgrade the city’s CCTV cameras to modern versions equipped with artificial intelligence.
“We are moving from NC3 to NC4 so that we can expand the capabilities of those cameras, enhance analysis, and input AI systems that can analyse data and tell us which areas of the city experience specific types of crime, so that we can intervene in a more scientific way,” he said.
During the 60-day period, the ministry says it will study how specialised units operate in developed cities, with the aim of adopting similar or even better models.
“We do not want to benchmark against small or fellow developing countries. We want to benchmark against where we are headed, the first world. What we implement in Nairobi will become a prototype that we can replicate elsewhere,” Murkomen added.
One of the cities with an operational dedicated unit is New York City in the United States, where the New York City Police Department (NYPD) is in charge.
The department operates across five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.
The NYPD oversees patrol and public safety, crime investigation, traffic enforcement, counterterrorism, special units and community policing.
Other cities with similar arrangements include Tokyo, Japan, which is served by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and Johannesburg, South Africa, where the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department operates.
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