Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has announced plans to establish a specialised Nairobi Metropolitan Police Unit, saying the new force is intended to strengthen security in a fast-growing capital that faces increasingly complex policing challenges.
The proposal will see 2,500 officers drawn from the Nairobi County Inspectorate and the National Police Service (NPS) undergo specialised training before being deployed across the city.
Speaking after a church service at St Austin’s Church in Westlands on Sunday, Sakaja said the initiative reflects a broader effort by both the national and county governments to improve public safety through better-trained personnel, expanded surveillance and quicker emergency response.
“We will train 2,500 police officers from the county and the National Police Service. They will undergo vigorous training to address the security challenges of the city,” Sakaja said.
He argued that Nairobi requires a different style of policing from other parts of the country because its daytime population rises to more than seven million people.
“We need more security patrols in Nairobi than traffic patrols because this is a city of seven million people with unique security needs,” he added.
Under the plan, Kamukunji Police Station will be renovated and expanded to serve as the headquarters of the new Nairobi Metropolitan Police Unit. The station will function as the command centre for operations across the capital.
The security reforms also include the rollout of an integrated CCTV surveillance system linked to a new Traffic Management Centre at City Cabanas along Mombasa Road.
According to Sakaja, the facility will bring together artificial intelligence-assisted surveillance, police monitoring and automated traffic enforcement under one command centre. He said privately owned CCTV cameras installed by businesses and institutions would also be connected to the network to improve crime detection and emergency response.
“The use of cameras will be key. City Cabanas will host Nairobi’s new digital traffic nerve hub, and we will integrate it with private cameras to improve security and enhance response to incidents across the city,” he said.
Sakaja said the proposed policing model draws on lessons from benchmarking visits undertaken with the Cabinet Secretary for Interior to New York and London, cities that operate specialised metropolitan policing systems.
“We have already benchmarked in New York and London as we seek to move our country forward. One of the most critical issues in any city is security, and that is why we are implementing this under the Cooperation Agreement with the National Government,” he said.
The plans form part of a cooperation agreement between the national and county governments aimed at modernising Nairobi’s security infrastructure. Besides increasing patrols, the agreement seeks to expand surveillance technology and improve coordination between county enforcement officers and the National Police Service.
If fully implemented, the reforms would mark one of the most significant changes to Nairobi’s urban policing strategy in recent years, as authorities seek to address crime, traffic management and emergency response in Kenya’s busiest city.
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