Kenyans, especially women, in distress situations will be able to discreetly contact their sub-county commanders without raising any suspicions, thanks to a new police mobile application currently under development.
Commissioner of Police, Dominick Kisavi, told the press on Wednesday, July 6, that the application will be connected to all sub-county commanders upon launch slated for Wednesday, July 20.
All Kenyans who download the app will be able to send alerts to commanders as well as Police Station nearest to them by simply shaking their mobile phones.
The commanders, in response, will be able to track the phone and dispatch teams to help the distressed individuals.
Kisavi further noted that the app will aid in tracking and solving Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) issues in real-time.
The officer of the Inspector General of Police under Hillary Mutyambai will also have access to the application to monitor and prompt the sub-county commanders to respond to calls of distress.
“The officer in charge will in turn deploy officers to track the device and assist the person in distress. Officers who fail to respond will be alerted by the national command center where the app shall also be monitored.
“The Inspector-General of Police will monitor the app from a dashboard in the office to ensure that all cases reported are attended to,” Kisavi stated in an interview with Kenya News Agency (KNA).
The application will also have a feature that allows witnesses to record cases of injustices and forward them to the authorities for follow-up.
“A bystander who happens to witness an incident can also record and send through the app after which officers from the nearest police station will follow up,” he added.
The project is supported by the National Police Service (NPS) in conjunction with United Nations (UN) Women and Crown Trust.
A USSD code will also be provided to aid individuals without a smartphone to make reports in real-time.