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RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3216
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 3087
RHMFISS/FBI WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
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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 
 
NAIROBI 00001172  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
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 
 
NAIROBI 00001172  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶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