The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has conducted an impromptu operation and exposed recruits who had joined as constables in the National Police Service (NPS) using forged academic credentials.
According to a report released by the DCI, the crackdown was conducted at the main campus located in Kiganjo on Wednesday the 15th of June 2022 which revealed a forgery scheme in the service.
The DI revealed that the ten recruits who were involved in the forgery scheme were nabbed during the impromptu operation to verify their academic papers.
A Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) report revealed by the former Nairobi regional commander Japheth Koome indicated that the ten suspects had forged their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) certificates.
It was also revealed that the ten suspects had changed their grades to match the recruitment grades required by the NPS.
Following investigations, it was found out that some subject grades and mean grades had been changed deliberately to match the required minimum requirements for joining the police service.
The incident led to the ten suspects being discharged from the police service and from the courses that they had been undertaking at Kiganjo.
The DCI report revealed that the men were among the 5,000 police constables who had been hired in March this year as part of the government’s drive to increase the ratio of police officers to civilians to improve the delivery of service.
“The fake documents were confiscated after their arrest to act as evidence against them in court. The suspects have also lost their slots in their service after failing the integrity test as well as three months of rigorous training,” said the DCI.
The police usually ensure that recruits are undertaken due diligence on a routine basis every year to authenticate their academic papers among other things.
What are the minimum qualifications for joining the police force?
To join the police force, one has to attain a mean grade of a D+ and be a fluent speaker of English and Kiswahili.
This comes amid a trending incident where some political mogul John Sakaja has been on the first page of newspapers and magazines over presenting questionable academic papers for verification by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
“Men and women are spending whole days discussing whether or not some people went to school. Whether one possesses clearly stipulated requirements should be a straightforward issue…yes or not,” said Dr Matiang’i.