Kinoti forms Sting Squad to replace Flying Squad
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has disbanded the Flying Squad’s regional sub -units and scaled down the Special Crimes Prevention Unit (SCPU).
In a reorganisation announced on December 31, the DCI also reduced the SCPU to a small unit at its headquarters at the Nairobi Area Traffic Police Headquarters along Ngong Road.
All officers in the Flying Squad’s regional offices and most of those in SCPU will be moved to newly formed Special Service Unit at the SCPU headquarters. SCPU commandant Pius Gitari will remain the Unit head.
Sources said the Flying Squad headed by crime buster Musa Yego will only exist in Nairobi and its headquarters will remain at the Nairobi Area Police headquarters.
The Flying Squad Unit was formed in July 1992 as Anti Motor Vehicle Theft Unit before it expanded to a specialised unit dealing with bank and armed robberies and had offices in Makuyu – Murang’a county and Nakuru and Eldoret towns.
Officers deployed in the units have undergone intense training in and outside the country leading to upgrading of their competencies, enhanced skills and knowledge aimed at making the Unit more effective and efficient while maximising on the available resources.
STING QUAD
But the DCI maintained that today marks the end of Flying Squad. “With effect from today, the Unit has equally been disbanded. This marks the end of the Flying Squad Unit and no officer will present himself or herself to the public as such,” the DCI said in a statement.
“To replace the Flying Squad and create an auxiliary support team on identified, researched and profiled crimes, another squad has been formed and named “Sting Squad Headquarters” (SSH) that will have a maximum of 50 specialized trained officers who will respond to specific cases.”
The cases include: armed robberies, kidnappings, motor vehicle theft, sale and distribution of contraband and substandard goods.
The DCI said the competitively selected officers will undertake specialised courses within and outside the country touching on their core areas of operation.
Both Squads (SSU) and (SSH) will be linked directly to the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) for intelligence driven operations alongside other augmenting Units including; Cybercrime, Ballistics, Scenes of Crime, Principal Crime Registrar.
Others are Crime Intelligence Unit, Homicide, (DNA, Toxicological, Chemistry and Biology Lab Units), currently being installed in the Ultra-Modern Forensic Laboratory.
The units will work closely with other State Security Agencies for information and intelligence sharing, among others.
Both squads will be on standby 24/7 as needed in critical crime emergencies within the country.