Former police spokesperson Charles Owino has defended the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) use of unmarked vehicles and plain clothes.
Owino, the chairman of the Council of the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC), made the comments a day after the High Court ordered the police not to conceal their faces and wear identifiable features when dealing with demonstrators.
“Operating in unmarked vehicles and wearing plain clothes is the standard procedure for DCI.
“You cannot stop the DCI from operating the way they operate. You cannot ask them to put on a uniform when they are used to operating in civilian clothes.
“If there are criminals entrenched, then it calls for DCI officers at times to get involved in supporting the persons managing riots to maybe pick individuals who could be criminals in these teams,” Owino said during a morning show with a local TV station.
According to Owino, DCI cannot be told not to use unmarked vehicles during their day-to-day activities.
“You may not say DCI officers cannot get involved in such operations if need be, and in those cases they will use unmarked cars, they will not have uniforms because those are their standard procedures,” he added.
Ruling
In a ruling on Wednesday, August 14, 2024, High Court judge Bahati Mwamuye directed that pursuant to a petition by the Law Society of Kenya‘s CEO Florence Wairimu Muturi, the conservatory orders were issued on the Inspector General of Police against deploying unidentified officers to quel demos.
“A conservatory order be and is hereby issued requiring the 5th Respondent (National Police) to ensure full compliance with Paragraph 10 of the Sixth Schedule to the National Police Service Act in terms of ensuring that all uniformed Police Officers or persons acting under the direction, control, or in support of the National Police Service shall at all times affix a nametag or an identifiable service number in a clearly visible part of their uniform when engaging with, providing security for, or in any way dealing with any person(s) who is or is planning on assembling, demonstrating picketing, or petitioning; and they shall not remove or obscure the same,” Justice Mwamuye stated.