KENYA POLICE OVERVIEW, PART TWO: U.S. ASSISTANCE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NAIROBI 001172

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

AF/E FOR SUSAN DRIANO; INL FOR LENDSEY SMALLS AND KEVIN
BLAKEMAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ASEC KCRM KJUS PGOV KE
SUBJECT: KENYA POLICE OVERVIEW, PART TWO: U.S. ASSISTANCE


1. Summary: This cable is the second in a three-part series
on the Kenyan police forces. This cable summarizes our recent
and planned engagement with and assistance to Kenyan law
enforcement agencies. Part three will discuss challenges
facing those agencies, progress to date on police reform, and
how best to engage with the law enforcement sector going
forward.


2. Kenyan police forces benefit from a wide range of
assistance and training from a number of U.S. agencies,
including the Departments of State, Justice, and Homeland
Security. All three main police agencies, the Kenya Police
Service (KPS),Kenya Administration Police (AP),and Kenya
Wildlife Service (KWS) have received assistance, as has the
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA),which is responsible for
customs enforcement, and a diverse group of other agencies
with relevant areas of responsibility, including the
Immigration Service, Department of Public Prosecutions,
Forest Service, Kenya Maritime Authority, the Kenya
Anti-Corruption Commission, the judiciary, and Kenya Ports
Authority. Building counterterrorism capacity, including
enhanced border security and maritime security capabilities,
has been the major focus of our assistance. Capacity building
in core civilian police skills (for example, criminal
investigation, victim and witness interviewing, evidence
preservation) has not been our main focus. In the case of the
KPS, it has also proven difficult to implement due to a lack
of cooperation from the Police Commissioner. Disorganization
and personnel transfers within the KPS have undermined the
substainability of the training that has been provided. End
summary.

TARGETING CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT AND INTERDICTION


3. Personnel from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and
related agencies (for example, the Kenya Port Authority
(KPA),the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA),and the
Immigration Service) have received extensive training, aimed
largely at strengthening their capacity to interdict
contraband ranging from radioactive materials to counterfeit
goods. Although KRA customs officers have a law enforcement
mandate, they were until recently overwhelmingly focused on
revenue collection rather than interdiction. They do not
carry guns, and would have to call in KPS personnel to
investigate if they uncovered a crime in progress. Recent
courses offered to the KRA and related agencies include: land
border enforcement, targeting and risk management,
international air cargo interdiction, establishing industry
partnership programs, criminal prosecution, trial advocacy,
and seaport enforcement. Because of the nature of border
enforcement issues, the Department of Homeland
Security/Customs and Border Protection (DHS/CBP) Attache at
post has regional responsibilities and has focused providing
regional workshops that help to build information sharing and
professional networks between customs officials from the
greater Horn of Africa and Great Lakes regions. In 2007, we
made two major equipment donations totaling $443,500 to the
KRA customs office. These donations were funded by the State
Department's Bureau of International Security and
Nonproliferation, Office of Export Control Cooperation
(ISN/EXBS).

BORDER SECURITY ASSESSMENT


4. In February 2009, personnel from the DHS/CBP Office of
Border Patrol conducted a week-long assessment of the
government of Kenya's (GOK's) proposed new border patrol
program. Currently, the GOK does not have dedicated border
patrol units; this responsibility has traditionally fallen
largely on the AP. The GOK's vision is to create new
dedicated border patrol units which will be jointly staffed
by the AP and the security arm of the KWS. Creating these
units will require the AP to add 3-4,000 new officers in the
next few years, as well as specialized training and
equipment. The initial assessment is the first step in our
planned assistance to help stand up these new units. The next
step, currently in the final planning stages, is CBP training
of Kenyan personnel who will implement Kenya's National
Border Patrol Program. This training will likely take place

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in July and August 2009. Then, the State Department's Bureau
of Diplomatic Security (DS) will fund a visit of AP and KWS
personnel to the United States to observe CBP border patrol
operations and programs in September 2009. This visit will be
jointly organized by DHS/CBP and the DS Anti-Terrorism
Assistance (ATA) program at post, overseen by the Regional
Security Office (RSO).

MEGAPORTS INITIATIVE


5. Kenya recently agreed to participate in the Department of
Energy's Megaports Initiative. The Megaports Initiative,
established in 2003, is designed to prevent terrorists from
using or smuggling dangerous nuclear materials. The
Initiative provides partner ports (in this case, the port of
Mombasa) with state-of-the-art radiation detection equipment,
software, and communications systems to assist port officials
in detecting radioactive materials in cargo containers
transiting the port. The MOU between the GOK and DOE was
signed on April 15; DOE personnel are conducting a site
assessment of the port as a prerequisite to follow-on
training and equipment deployment. The first phase of
Megaports training programs will begin in the next three
months; the program is expected to be fully operational in
Kenya by August 2010.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM CAPACITY BUILDING


6. Embassy Nairobi has a Regional Legal Advisor (RLA) through
the Department of Justice's Office of Overseas Prosecutorial
Development, Assistance, and Training (DOJ/OPDAT) office and
a Senior Law Enforcement Advisor (SLEA)through DOJ's
International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance
Program (DOJ/ICITAP). The SLEA is funded through the Women's
Justice and Empowerment Initiative (WJEI) and thus focuses
her efforts on investigation and evidence collection in
sexual assault cases. The RLA position is funded by the
Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism (S/CT). The
RLA and SLEA have conducted a number of training activities
aimed at building the capacity of police and prosecutors to
successfully investigate and prosecute a variety of criminal
cases. Recent joint training conducted by the RLA and SLEA
include training on the implementation of Kenya's Sexual
Offenses Act (SOA) and witness protection. Both advisors also
contributed to drafting amendments to the SOA and to
developing updated model charge sheets for police use.
Upcoming SLEA trainings in 2009 include motor vehicle crime
scene processing, trafficking in persons, and sexual assault
forensic examiner training. The RLA has conducted additional
training on digital evidence and cyber crimes, mutual legal
assistance, piracy, public corruption, prosecutorial ethics,
plea agreements, and trial advocacy. Planned RLA trainings
include anti-terrorism financing, financial crimes and
corruption, cyber-crime, plea bargaining, and gang and
criminal organization investigations and prosecutions. It is
important to note that the vast majority of criminal
prosecutions in Kenya are carried out by police prosecutors,
who generally lack formal legal training. The Department of
Public Prosecutions (DPP) has less than 60 prosecutors to
cover the entire country. Therefore, virtually all RLA and
SLEA trainings include police personnel and build police
capacity.


7. The FBI office at post has also provided training and
equipment to the KPS, AP, and KWS. In February, the FBI
conducted a public corruption investigation training for
investigators and lawyers from the Kenya Anti-Corruption
Commission. Upcoming equipment grants include fingerprint
kits for the KPS, AP, and KWS, and gyro-stabilized binoculars
for use in KWS air surveillance operations. Though not yet
approved by the Police Commissioner, the FBI has proposed
providing monthly training and equipment to the KPS
Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) on counter-terrorism and
basic law enforcement skills. Approval is also pending for
crime scene investigation training planned for June 2009. A
course on terrorism financing and money laundering is
currently planned for September 2009.

ILEA AND COESPU TRAINING

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8. Kenyan law enforcement officials also benefit from
participation in courses offered by the International Law
Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Gaborone, Botswana.
Participants for these courses are selected by the RSO. In
2007 and 2008, a total of 48 Kenyans attended specialized
courses at ILEA funded by the United States. To date in 2009,
a total of ten participants have completed coursework in
financial forensics and money laundering. Upcoming courses in
2009 in which Kenyans will participate include personnel and
facility security, wildlife investigations, and post blast
investigation. The Center of Excellence for Stability Police
Units (COESPU) is an international training center in Italy
that trains stability police for peacekeeping operations and
is co-sponsored by the United States as part of the Global
Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI). COESPU focuses on a
train-the-trainers approach for police who will deploy
internationally as part of stability police units. The last
COESPU course in which Kenyans participated was in spring

2007. We did not offer this training to Kenya in the run-up
to the December 2007 elections, or in 2008 due to concerns
about instability in Kenya and allegations of police
involvement in post-election violence. In March 2009, Kenya
had 955 military and civilian police personnel assigned to UN
peacekeeping operations, ranking 24th of 118 troop
contributing nations. Of the 955 personnel, 19 are civilian
police officers.

COMMUNITY POLICING SUPPORT


9. Following the post-election violence in early 2008, post
applied for section 1207 funding to assist in reconstruction
and reconciliation activities. Our initial proposal for $10
million was subsequently reduced to $8 million. We
experienced a delay when our grant was reallocated to Georgia
to address the crisis there, but are now expecting to receive
the funding very soon. The section 1207 proposal has three
pillars: building the Kenyan military's Army Engineer Corps'
civil affairs capacity, increasing youth inclusion through
economic and social empowerment, and a civilian police
program focused on improving civilian-police relations. The
planned police pillar will include funding for a technical
advisor to conduct an assessment and to design and implement
a program to strengthen police-community relations. Improving
police-community relations is a key recommendation of the
Waki Commission that investigated the post-election violence.

COUNTER-TERRORISM ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING


10. The Bureau of Diplomatic Security's Anti-Terrorism
Assistance program (DS/ATA) has been working in Kenya since

2004. Its budget for FY 2009 in Kenya is approximately $8
million. Much of its training efforts in FY 2008 and 2009 are
focused on building the GOK's maritime security capacity,
including courses on small boat operations, marine
operations, coastal search and rescue, and port and harbor
security management. Some of these courses are accompanied by
equipment grants and related training. Other course topics in
FY 2008 and 2009 focus on issues like border control
management, fraudulent travel documents, protecting digital
infrastructure, and internet investigations. DS/ATA provided
a major digital forensic equipment grant to the KPS and AP in
February 2009. Agencies trained by DS/ATA vary by course
topic, but includeKPS (Anti-Terrorism Police Unit, Maritime
Police Unit, and Criminal Investigation Division),AP, KWS,
KRA, Kenya Ports Authority, Immigration Service, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Forestry Service, Ministry of Fisheries
Development, and the Kenya Navy.

RANNEBERGER