All is set for the planned opening of a Forensic Crime Scene Investigations Services of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
Inspector General of police Hilary Mutyambai and other top police commanders visited the facility Thursday as part of plans to open it officially for use.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is scheduled to open the facility on February 28 to mark another milestone in efforts to solve many pending criminal cases.
Officials are racing to equip the facility ahead of the ceremony.
Last week, Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho appeared before National Assembly Departmental Committee on Administration and National Security where he revealed Kenyatta was expected to officially launch the laboratory and that an additional Sh2 billion was required to equip it before the launch.
After his tour, Mutyambai said he was impressed by the progress so far and expressed optimism that it will be a boost in the war on crime.
“We have been having challenges in some cases, but now this will help in many ways. It is a game-changer,” he said.
The construction of the laboratory had stalled for years after it was embroiled in corruption in past regimes. Insiders say the equipping exercise at the laboratory is being supervised by DCI George Kinoti.
Some Sh335 million was in 2021 allocated for equipping the National Forensic Laboratory. But more money is needed to complete the exercise and some foreign countries have joined in helping to equip it.
Last year on March 4, the German government donated Sh27 million equipment to the DCI to enhance the operations.
The donated equipment included specialised crime scene investigations kits, photography and videography cameras with accessories.
Crime scene simulation rooms have been developed at the National Police Service Training College, Main Campus in Kiganjo, at the DCI Academy and another one at DCI headquarters, Kiambu Road.
The Germans are also buying thousands of laptops for the police to be used in reporting crimes. This follows a move by the police to digitise the Occurrence Book.
The OB is the one that contains all crimes reported daily in the country and will now be monitored and followed up by supervisors at various levels.
Many crimes go unsolved because police lack a laboratory to help them address the cases.
The service has been relying on foreign laboratories to conduct tests for evidence on issues under probe.
For instance, toxicological tests are at times done either in South Africa or in Europe. At the laboratory, there are different sections, including fingerprints, ballistics, cybercrime, document examination, economic crimes, toxicology, computer forensics, mobile device forensics, malware analysis, computer incidents response team, network forensics, research and training and biological and chemistry sections.
There will be Digital Forensic Laboratory, whose overall function will be to identify, seize, acquire and analyse all electronic devices related to all cyber-enabled offences reported.
This is to collect digital evidence that will be presented in a court of law for prosecution. The DFL is divided into subunits, each outlining specific roles and responsibilities of the Digital Forensics Analysts. BY THE STAR