HOLISTIC POLICING APPROACH

Policing is a complex public service provision business. It is also an essential baseline service that is monopolised by States since security is a government’s first line of business to secure the homeland.

Challenges of policing are myriad. Seeking for effective security and crime countermeasures is equally a nightmare: not a walk in the park, as it’s famously said. This is a challenge faced by almost all public Polices worldwide.

Police strategists are expected to design and deliver appropriate and fitting countermeasure solutions to tackle the crime menace. But more often than not, we look in the wrong direction by also trying so hard to achieve so little.

I’ am a firm believer of strategy as an organised, all-encompassing and holistic approach of containing crime. This is so since strategy utilises System Thinking paradigm in aligning organisational activities and processes including structural changes and cultural character of the organisation. To arrive at such a perfect-fit as a driver into the known and desired future relies on diverse and relevant market variables within the policing industry and general security environment.

This is to say that through a strategic orientation, careful thought is put into decisions. And such decisions should be aimed at tackling underlying issues to offer longer-term solutions that can spur and impact the organisation and society positively.

But the challenge is when an organisation lacks a systemic view and understanding of key market variables. When those in leadership get fixated on quick-wins, then focus is only to allay immediate and visible surface symptoms. This may solve the problem, but in the short-term only to resurface later in a bigger threatening way. This is the challenge the world is facing with environmental challenges when strategies and policies are uncoordinated and unsustainable hence ameliorating and manifesting in different forms later on. And that’s why el-nino is a current environmental threat due to long-time neglect in tackling fundamental and systemic issues impacting global environment.

So how can policing adopt System Thinking in its strategic way of conducting police business? First we must develop a penchant for a long-term view. We should shun populism and activism as options to policing. We need to embrace the Organisational Learning culture as a basis of systems thinking. Once this is a cultural reality of doing normal business, then we shall start asking tough criminological questions and engage in data and analytic-based interrogations and conversations on how to address prevailing challenges. That’s the only way that long-lasting and positive policing impacts can be designed and delivered as realistic crime countermeasures.

Peter M. Senge, the guru of Systems Thinking offers a good guideline in his classic The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of Learning Organisation (a book that I not only recommend for all leaders especially in police but also vouch for as a basic resource material for all leadership classes). In this detailed guideline, Senge shares his wisdom on how a long-term view culture can be developed and practiced by managers and organisations to push forward the culture of systems thinking in the context of a learning organisation.

In brief, Systems Thinking is the approach of looking at things and phenomena as either the whole (totality), and only made up of parts or components, or look at parts as an aspect of the whole. In respect to crime, this thinking is rooted in the sociological school of thought or perspective. As such the systems thinking approach will alter our way of looking at, appreciating and tackling crime. It will thus influence the way policing resources, policies, programmes, projects and even deployment are approached. This is not to suggest that policing strategy and policies shall or should only be informed by sociology, but other cardinal influences especially informed by the classical schools of free choice being as equally relevant, and therefore all mixed for a better and holistic solutions’ generation.

Therefore we need to dig deeper to understand the causation of crime more than what is visible on the scratched surface (the tip of the iceberg). What easily manifests are mere symptoms and not underlying issues of crime causation concern. An aspirin may be good for a day or so for the persisting headache, but not in the long-run unless a visit to the doctor with lab tests is complete to address the underlying primary illness.

Crime is a wicked and vicious business, and operating in a systemic vicious circle. Unless we first get into the cruel basics of how crime originates, and then later get dirty and focused in the backroom trenches of data through analysis and deeper intelligence appreciation, we may often miss the big picture of the true crime experience. For example, the focus should ordinarily be on the offender more than the crime per-se as is always the case. This is so because a few in the society are responsible for a bigger share of the crime experience than the rest. In fact if you adopt the reasoning of the Pareto Principle, then you will acknowledge that only 20% or less of criminals cater for more than 80% of the total crime experience. So if you focus on crimes’ description alone without the connecting thread – offending – then we shall wrongly believe that such crimes are exclusive to the others yet they share a commonality and history.

Another important aspect of Systems Thinking is the ability of learning and understanding what Senge calls the Archetypes. Key amongst them are the Limits to Growth and Shifting the Burden. These key structures are at the core of all dismal performance at either the corporate or personal levels. Once they are understood, then next stage is how to leverage in order to break the circle of lethargy that exists within organisational performance and ultimate success.

In a sequel post, we shall endeavour to discuss how this two Archetypical structures lead to police organisational weakness, and how we can  circumscribe around the phenomenon to bounce back to service productivity through the power of leverage.

Let’s keep the vigil, hopefully…

POLICE TRAINING AND WAYFORWARD.

There is too much training going on. Kenyans are unique people, especially as regards thirsting for knowledge. This has made us the de-facto regional knowledge economy. I thus always tell my kids we are now living in very exciting times. Times when as parents we no longer educate our kids as an investment but only to set them up and cut them off loose to eke their own living, if not earn it, and not payback in our golden sunset years. This being so since even parents are busy competing their own kids by going back to class to advance their own knowledge base. Meaning by the time the kids join the labor market, parents shall still be around and more wiser to tussle over those opportunities with them.  Very exciting indeed.

So as everyone goes back to class, so are our local boys and girls in uniform. Yes, cops are literally tripping over each other rushing to class. Try to assign an officer an after-work assignment and you are met with a stiff “Am sorry am going to class, sir!” And this includes seniors and juniors alike. Over lunch hour officers quickly assemble in study groups to sort out that pending assignment. Very interesting indeed.

And the training bug bites even deeper within police. There is this fad namely foreign training. Cops are crisscrossing the globe, with most by-passing each other at our local and even foreign airports as they shuffle to foreign destinations to attend international training. This is mostly in the spirit of international police cooperation as also with proprietary targeted overseas training. A few other officers are lucky beneficiaries of advanced scholarships too.

These happenings are a sign of a culture of police Learning Organisation (LO). Learning organisation culture is indeed the forerunner of a progressive and forward-moving police organisation.  An organisation that is undergoing transformative reforming and intent to serve the 21st policing landscape. Genuine transformation can only be championed under a knowledge base which is contingent on a learning organisation paradigm.

So it is presumed that these various efforts of accessing knowledge at both individual and organisational levels are well-managed strategically. If so, well and good. If not, there is still room for improvement in the least. Nonetheless, the following should be a guide and part of such a strategy or policy in place:

1.Training needs. Should be well understood and catalogued. Training should be deliberate and not haphazard. What are the unique knowledge needs of police? is a very key question. Without a research effort to appreciate critical needs to be addressed by knowledge sought ie. knowledge gaps (training gaps analysis),  then all efforts to access knowledge may unfortunately be wasteful at both such two levels: individual and organisational. Make the effort focused and targeted.

2. Related to internal knowledge needs, there is need to have a police Career Master’s office within the training function. This should guide individual course and training options relevant to policing.  This is so because a career policeman will remain just that. Why pursue a degree in theology or education when you intent to remain a policeman for rest of service? Can’t one pursue that which will contribute towards his or her career advancement or growth? Makes no career sense. Can’t criminology or sociology suffice in the policing context? Other relevant disciplines with a bias in data management, analytics,  forensic science are relevant. But God forbid, not anthropology or physical training! Let’s work around this to make learning sensible and value addition.

3. Who goes for training,  both local and international? This is in respect to government or police sponsored trainings, not personal oriented or underwritten. As police officers,  we all know each other just too well and our respective capabilities that no one can fool the other.  So when a colleague is in the habit of replacing passports sooner than known courtesy to international travels, then questions abound, albeit silently. Let the best and deserving merit training. Not a functional mismatch.

4. After training, what next? You know a colleague went for this key training. Afterwards it is back to normal work life. My finance subject instructor at KPC used to call that a loss and waste situation! Actually it’s criminal: stealing government resources and time. All officers trained by tax payers should give a value return on investment. No joyriding and collection of visa and per diem only.

5. Ripple effect. Training and knowledge should not be hoarded.  Knowledge should be sambasad (transferred) for ripple effect. So it should be policy that all trained officers to transfer such knowledge to the rest for meaningful organisation-wide impact (through availed machineries). That’s being not only generous and honest but moral too: share the little you have with a brother or sister in need!

6. Skills inventory. As a minimum requirement, there should be a well maintained skills and talent inventory to manage training and knowledge. Knowledge is a very key resource not to be wasted. It’s actually part of intellectual property. Otherwise mismanaged and mismatched knowledge with deployment is too expensive for the organisation. It can even be a risk factor liability.

7. Bonding. This requirement exists in letter but not enforced fully. Some trainings are very expensive and too critical to police operations. Why train a pilot only to exit after qualification?  And similar key trainings such as forensics and fraud investigations? No value addition. So there should be a minimum period of service as a payback and transfer of skills to others before exit of service.

8.TOTs. With most international trainings, we only need a TOTs component to be able to replicate such a training locally. That will benefit more officers than training tourism that is mismanaged in the first place. And it’s cheap in the longer term.

9. Investment in our local training facilities. I was in ‘B’ Mess in 1990, and I still harbour good memories. It was a pleasure being a resident there – very impeccable and homely. The menu was ala carte, 3 to 4 courses as a standard. Now it is an ordinary buffet! Same to ‘A’ Mess and ‘DCI’ Academy. Standards should never be compromised. An urgent investment in our training institution shall go a long way in reinforcing and meeting the thirst for police training. Let instructors be highly motivated too to be able to deliver satisfactorily.

10. Research.  This is the police training missing link. A key component to be established like yesterday. With research capability more knowledge shall be sought and catalogued for decision-making. Research findings will also guide overall strategy, policy and practice.This is also where curriculum development fall in to design and deliver commensurate training content.

11. Lets talk age. The elephant in the police training room. So I’ am 59 years and I’ am still lining up for that key training! It’s abomination. Very selfish to the young and promising future of police. Training is an investment calling for a return of value/investment. With a year or more to exit, one should be busy making contacts at pensions department and not in police training sessions. It’s a waste.

12. Merit metrics.  Training leads to knowledge.  Most of this knowledge is either technical or conceptual. Holders of such knowledge resource are the ones primed to best lead based on proficiency and competency. Therefore it should reasonably form the main merit metric when it comes to career advancement and progression.

Training is key to any progression of an organisation. It’s more critical to police at this time of transformative efforts to turnaround and consolidate policing gains. So training should not only be encouraged within the rank and file,  but should be above all structured to offer strategic purpose. This is when more value shall accrue within a shorter timeline than expected.

Policing where it matters most

On this blog, a persistent argument will be made on the need for frontline policing. That is policing focused mostly on service provider officers more than police supervisors and managers. This discourse will therefore be for the benefit of citizens who are the consumers of policing products.

Today I will add a twist to this “frontline” conversation. This is in relation to the origin of crime: causes of crime. As well-known to progressive police practitioners, the primary function of policing is not law enforcement but crime prevention. So to effectively control crime is to prevent it altogether. Sir Peel was spot on on this in principle No. one: The basic mission for which police exist is to prevent crime and disorder as an alternative to the repression of crime and disorder by military force and severity of legal punishment.

Effective crime prevention commences first with an understanding of crime causation. This offers us an appreciation of high risk factors that leads to crime. Amongst the many factors attributable to crime incidences are those rooted in sociological origins. And when drilled further down, young offenders are found to be at greatest risk of crime involvement than all other offender groups.

This is because crime phenomena has a life of its own. Sociology of crime differs from the anthropology of crime of biological school which considers crime as a sickness (pathology of crime) that some are predisposed of. Sociology is about learning of new traits and behaviours owing to certain societal variables that generate crime. But when such variables are well controlled upfront then crime can be mitigated if not hopefully eradicated. As such, offenders are equally victims of societal ills to engage in crime in the first place.

This argument holds hope for the crime prevention paradigm. That we can control the societal landscape to alter crime experience. And because the high risk factor is with young offenders mainly, then most efforts ought to be directed towards the youth.

This therefore might rightly appear to be a mandate outside mainstream policing and only exclusive for other agencies concerned with youth affairs. Although this is so, police as the communities guardians of security, peace and order have an equal role through their crime prevention mandate to intervene in all issues affecting public quality of life. Police therefore need to devise elaborate crime prevention strategies under the aegis of community policing specifically targeting the youth as the frontline risk factor to criminality.

A good starting point is a marshall programme within schools. As known,  crime starts in the lab of delinquency. And delinquency is all about the youth. The youths are at the highest risk of offending due to the simple fact that that is the critical stage of character formation. So as learners,  they take in and condition with the environment that they are ordinarily part of. This coupled with societal social decay and familial breakdown lays a fertile ground to predispose them to offending. And because many youths are in school, it then makes perfect sense to target such places.

Appropriate social control programmes should therefore be thought-out and designed for anti-offending. This being so since studies especially those explaining the social control theory reveal that two approaches are mainly responsible for norms compliance;  being modelled on both internal and external restraints. Internal restraints refer to a well-adjusted character of the individual with a strong moral compass positioning. This is all about development of personal conscience. Conversely external restraints are those imposed by society through law (criminal justice) and naming and shaming mechanisms that many wouldn’t withstand.

It’s therefore at such an external restraint level that police should/would utilise in conjunction with general community through CP to design and deliver appropriate youth strategies to reach out to them and dissuade them from the criminological path.

So this is all about cooperative engagements with the youth. Awareness programmes with complete statistics on the vanity of crime should be revealed (ie. crime never pays in the long run). Together with prison authorities, police can avail pep talks by youth prisoners wasting away their youth in prison owing to truancy, delinquency and crime. Hard realities of non-penetration of the labour market with a criminal record should also be candidly shared with them. Alternative safe programmes and projects, especially sports and those modelled on boy scout and girl guide principles should be encouraged and strengthened. These should have the potentiality of giving hope to kids and affording them an alternative route to success without facing unnecessary strain.

And the elephant in the room of child offending or choosing a crime career should be addressed with bare knuckles: a bold revelation that all that which glitters is not gold! That success only come with aspiration and perspiration. Without persistent nothing comes easy. And that there is no free lunch out there. That if it feels too good, always think twice… This is important since majority of youth tend to model the wrong cadre of success, especially affluence associated to crime.

These are simple baseline tools, amongst many others that can be deployed to dissuade our youth from the path of crime. Once youth conform to acceptable norms, then the source of crime would have been controlled. And with such a control mechanism,  future offending would have been curtailed. It’s all about dealing with source issues: fundamental and primary crime causation matters.

All the rest of crime prevention efforts, in all their manifestation,  are only secondary. Lets fix it where it matters most: at the youth offending frontline point.

The myth of police leadership and ranking system

I am a police officer. As an officer, I am alive to some organisational long-held assumptions of which it doesn’t matter whether I subscribe to or not. This being so because it doesn’t make any difference especially when I don’t want to reinvent the wheel of policing.

Amongst the many assumptions is one of the human resource belief that presumes one has to aspire for and rise to leadership position only through the rigorous ranking system. So this means that the most senior at all times are the ones who stand the only chance of making it beyond the glass ceiling.

So what this assumption seem to infer is that the most senior are also the most knowledgeable and wise. No wonder it is only the top guys who enjoy the best human resource perks of more executive training, five-star hotel workshops and the best foreign training irrespective of how such knowledge shall be applied in a real work context back home.

This grounded practice is held as a truism: that senior officers are the only ones with the aptitude and prepared mindsets to offer corporate management hence occupy C-suites. On this score there seem to be no problem since only a few can lead at any given time. Problem is when the assumption holds further that juniors, especially those commonly called “subordinate officers” lack the competence and character to lead at higher levels. That at best they can only “check” the beat if not “walk” it!

Both Dilbert and Peter would disagree in total at such a proposition.

Students of management have all heard of the Peter Principle which posits that employees are promoted to their level of incompetence. And the Dilbert Principle in turn is a cartoon strip that lampoons management for ineptness and lethargy and only rising to senior management positions purposely to be compensated for missing out on critical technical knowledge and skills required at the workplace (explains why doctors, engineers, accountants etc. are not in top management but only backwaters!).

And the leadership assumption is not only limited to police environment but the entire corporate world. It’s only that police and the military have perfected this assumption owing to their leadership structures of command and control.

So the question is whether such assumption holds water, and if not, if police structure can be fiddled with to either incorporate elements of junior cadres professing aptitude and interest to join top management or be put on accelerated fast lane human resource programs of advancement to short-circuit their rise to the police boardroom alongside the seniors.

I say this because I know of many though junior officers but with impeccable credentials and right temperament to lead. These are officers whose capabilities are well-known to even their superiors as being very resourceful at the workplace to the extent that they cannot be released to proceed on leave lest critical services are disrupted. We have many of such diligent officers yet somehow are not picked by the talent management radar that is tasked with promotion function.

To underscore this I will call to mind one case study that I recently discerned. Then you’ll be the jury afterwards.

To start off allow me to also make another full disclosure: that I am a full and proud member of the Kenya Police Sacco. This is the vehicle that pools members (police) subscriptions and afford them affordable loans in addition to their savings. The Sacco is therefore a member of the cooperative society movement within Kenya. For as long as I have been a member of the police force/service, I have been a contributing member of the Sacco (though events that led to my membership is a sad story for another day).

So my colleagues and myself – majorly members of the Kenya Police Service wing of the National Police Service since APS subscribe to a different Sacco – have come along way. Over the years the Sacco was run as if an appendage of mainstream police organisation, with all executive members of the movement corresponding to the seniority structure of the police force. As such it was a given that the patron had to be the commissioner of police, the chairman being reserved for the principal deputy to the commissioner, and all other top executives being senior gazetted officers located mainly at Vigilance House. Decision-making was top-down through the police hierarchy. New members had no other option of joining. Projects were shoved down members’ throats. That was an acrimonious era of the Sacco, though some other positives such as the Utumishi School were born (though it is believed the initiative was a sole crusade of one passionate senior police executive to make it a reality).

In a nutshell, the Sacco had tumultuous years through such a period when the executive was heavily populated by senior police officers.

Then things changed overnight when members (majority being juniors) read the fine print of the Sacco constitution only to learn that they held the power to effect change through a popular vote. They realised that as members of the Sacco they were not bound by police discipline and the top-down hierarchical command and control structure of police. That as members of the Sacco, they operated in a flat organisation where every member had an equal voice and vote and share. Come the next AGM and all senior executives were booted and young junior faces ushered in. It was a fait accompli!

History was then written within the police practice for the pyramid of leadership to have been inverted. Senior police officers who were members of the Sacco found themselves being subservient and led for the first time by their work juniors. And this was within an environment which mattered most: where their money (nest eggs) was! Yes, it had to happen since there were no options. Seniors found themselves between a rock and a hard place. They had to swallow humble pie and pretend nothing had happened, and move on, heads held high. But something had happened already never to be the same again…

So what remained was for the juniors to prove their mettle. Were they going to ground the Sacco six feet under? Cynics waited… I never doubted the least.

Answers became self-evident recently. As I said sometimes in another post, I like scouring papers for police related stories of substance. So as I was at it, I came across a profile advertisement. Police Sacco was celebrating another milestone (amongst many others in recent years). The Sacco had been certified ISO compliant. We all know what ISO certification means: it’s all about good management and operational processes practice including systems! It’s a vote of confidence in the ability and competence of management for adopting best international practice in certain areas and functions. And for those who know, certification doesn’t come any easy. It’s laborious, painstaking and a hopeful journey. It must be guided by good top corporate strategy through upfront envisioning and execution. And this means that the executive team and top management must work in synch and collaborative fashion. And they must keep strict timeliness in order to deliver. And beyond certification is the start of yet another challenging journey of keeping consistency and relevancy. Thus the current management of police Sacco had proved their mettle and dared where earlier eagles hadn’t dared venture.

So who are these top daring leadership of Kenya Police Sacco? That’s what makes interesting reading (and writing too!). In media parlance it’s called “man-bite-dog” story. An instant bestseller since it’s not your everyday conventional storyline. So I read deeper for the names behind this phenomenal success, and did further basic desk-top research to acquaint myself with them better (and especially by rank). Of course I already knew some who are my close friends, a factor that edged me on. The following makes the statistics:
1. Chairman – Sgt David S.Mategwa
2. Vice chair – Mr. David Kangongo, SP
3. Treasurer – Cpl John Michael Mugo
4. Hon Sec – PC Amos Tingos
5. Board members
. IP Joakim Awuondo
. IP Andrew Koech
. PC Benjamin Talaam
. Cpl Jeremiah Lekoken
. Cpl Juliet Juma
6. Supervisory committee
. Chair – IP Eric Kamaitha
. Sec – Cpl John Okumu
. Member – IP Eric Tumwet

Kenya Police Sacco Board of Directors

This is the dream line-up team powering the giant police Sacco to great leaps and bounds. Through their strategic and able leadership, this progressive team has and is still counting success after the other. Sampling just but a few notable accomplishment under their watch: best-managed Sacco within government sector; best nationally in educational and training; and third lowest in expenditure. Recently the Sacco built and unveiled an ultra-modern office complex within Ngara area. Also all its projects are on course and schedule. It has opened two fully fledged FOSA in Mombasa and Eldoret to serve its clients with ease. Loans processing are at break-neck speed. Members can never be more happy.

These gains are being recorded during the era of relatively junior officers at helm of corporate governance within the police context (only one GO at borderline rank of SP!). And more telling is that it is leadership within the financial services sector, a sector which calls for high morality and probity, stricter corporate governance, and unsoiled ethical temperament. And this is the sector that our boys and girls are excelling in against other industry giants!

This reminds me of the Biblical tale of prophets rejected back home. In police never are nice words spoken of the juniors or anything positive expected out of them with regard to key leadership. They are only to be led, and be told. They can’t even exercise their legal discretion of policing action. Yet these officers posses relevant knowledge and skills that can be utilised for the good of policing in general, including boardroom decision-making. And only if given the benefit of doubt and trusted with more responsibilities and positions of leadership.

Leadership of police Sacco attest to this. Sgt Mategwa, the National Chairman and his competent team have done not only well but entire policing proud by being proof that police officers at all levels are leaders. They have demystified the fat lie that only the most senior in the ranking pyramid are the ones with capabilities to lead. Police leadership can coexist at all levels, just as written by Terry D. Anderson in his book called ‘Every Officer is a Leader’.

This is therefore a true vindication. The rest of the so called “junior officers” should follow suit en masse and step up to be counted alongside the Sacco officials and offer strategic leadership in whichever fields or whatever levels they are exposed to.

Ranks should exist primarily only on our shoulders, not in the head. It’s what we do and accomplish that matters more to our policing outcomes than how many pips line our shoulders. Forget the epaulets and let’s lead wisely!

Kenya police Sacco leadership just showed the way. We can as well follow.

Criminal Justice: A System or Non System?

Much is known of the criminal justice system. This is the legal conveyance belt that processes wrongdoing in the name, form and style of criminals and general offenders to receive their ‘just deserts’ as the victims receive due justice. This is the overarching system of avenging wrongs visited upon society hence the bedrock of peace, justice, and order. As said, without justice there can never be peace. But with peace, justice is assured. It is for this reason that the Kenyan national anthem have lines to the effect of ‘… May we dwell in unity, peace and liberty, justice be our shield and defender’

The CJS is based on the rule of law. This in turn is contingent on law and order. The system operates through some distinct processes though well aligned to achieve a common purpose. That’s why it is critical that CJS players operate from a common base and understanding to give a uniform value proposition to citizens yearning for peace, freedom and justice.  Such outcomes are key to the mandates of the actors.

And this alignment is all about the ‘system’ – meaning uniformity.  From a strategic point of view, it’s called alignment or fit for purpose. That’s the systemic seeing and appreciation of things from the big picture perspective. And this composite picture is how the system should with efficiency and economy offer the best utility and hope to victims of crime and wrongdoing.  If that can’t be achieved in good time, lawlessness and disorder takes root and national security jeopardized.

The system commences with a basic complaint from the public or body corporate of any wrongdoing or even perception thereof. So an officer (police) get involved at this stage (and that’s the whole essence of police discretion since this is the most important quasi-judicial decision making that moves the entire system). Alternatively,  an officer may take cognisance of a crime based on mere suspicion of even processed intelligence. The DPP also retains the constitutional right of directing for investigations. The bottom line being a probable commission of a crime against either a known or unknown person or entity.

This escalates through the finding stage of crime where an offence is either detected or not. In the former, the system is activated further. In the negative, the matter rests. It’s nonetheless still a sole police decision making.

So a crime is or has been detected. So what? Police professionalism takes over through capable and professional investigation. This calls for DCI and local station investigators capabilities. Evidence is collected and processed to be audited against the criminal law. Towards the tail, DPP comes in the picture for more professionalism in the line of prosecution. Trade offs with investigators also play out at this stage to ensure quality of evidence. If the ‘prosecution test’ is passed, the conveyor belt of the system moves on to the judiciary stage. It’s then a different ball game altogether as other players crowd the arena: courts, defense attorneys, probationists, etc. The matter is then adjudicated criminally by a competent court.

From the foregoing,  we have appreciated that a simple action committed by an individual goes through a very laborious ‘systemic’ process. This is the process called the CJS or simply the ‘system’. It is designed to be foolproof, and for a good reason; cheaply emanating from the human rights perspective that finds every person innocent until proven guilty. This is against the model of due process and standard of proof of beyond reasonable doubt. We have checks and balances along and at each stage to ensure compliance to such standards. Sanctions or non compliance are very stiff and include both criminal culpability and civil liability. So once the ‘system’ operates within the rules,  then ‘it works’. But when it doesn’t,  then it leaks and becomes a ‘non-system’.

So when is the ‘system’ said to be a ‘non-system’.

When it is dysfunctional, and with visible leaks and creaks.

We shall discuss this sometime.

THE MAKING OF A GOOD COP: THE PRIMARY LESSON

I became a police officer on the 30th July 1988. More specifically, I reported to the training academy at Kenya Police College on a Friday evening. That’s when I met thousands of other motivated young Kenyans from across the country who had assembled ready for the police training sojourn. Most of them to date are my bosom buddies; some even closer to me than some blood relatives. On that day, we all assembled to embark on a lifelong quest to serve our motherland and citizens with distinction,  so I presumed.  At least it was on my part, for sure.

I say this because it was not by default that I was at the academy on that cold Nyeri evening, some 600kms away from my birth village of Eregi situated deep in the then Kakamega district (currently Kakamega County). It was not even out of desperation that I was in a place meeting people I had no plans or intention of meeting then since I had just left a teaching job in a local secondary school back home which paid more handsomely compared to what the Kenya Police was then paying a constable; and also having left behind some of my best memories that I shared with my family and childhood friends. I had dumped all such familiarity and future prospects for the unknown out of a well thought out design than default.

What I intent to say through these many words is that I chose to become a police officer as my career of choice and not otherwise. That I had made a very deep and personal decision that bound my whole life based on what I believed to be core to my value system. And this being the thirst to serve citizens in the justice sector,  and more specifically,  the law enforcement fraternity.

And now over 26 years and still counting, I still hang in there, with no regrets; and a better person at that having fulfilled my desire to serve. And not just to serve but serve with a distinction!

So if I were to exit the police scene, my service epitaph would read ‘I came and served, I kept the promise, and I finished the vocation!’ And that’s sometimes  sooner than later.

So I joined the police service  (unfortunately a Force then) out of choice and with great expectation to excel at service delivery to the common person. I came in with a personal value proposition of customer orientation as opposed to personal gratification. At least I had other career options then that I had overlooked for policing. And this was well captured and documented in my first ever police essay that is mandatory to all new recruits: ‘Why I Joined the Police Force’.

No one ever explained to us why such a relatively cheap essay was mandatory for grown ups aspiring for police service.  And nobody cared to ask. So no one knew why. And because it was mandatory, and having been supplied with enough writing papers and pens,  we all did scribble our reasons as to why we joined the police force.

I candidly shared my reasons, amongst others being the need and desire to make a difference in serving the nation and citizens through policing. I went further to share how my desire arose through justice inequities that I had grown up witnessing in society. And more positive things were shared too.

My colleagues too shared their versions. Never knew what they wrote.

But later in my service I have had the privilege to serve in diverse supervisory and management roles, including a stint as a police instructor at the police academy. These roles exposed me to officers’ personal files which I would occasionally review. And sure enough, though unbeknown to many officers, those simple essays they all wrote way back on their first day at the police academy are well filed in their personal files as a permanent record. And for a good reason too as I have later come to learn.

This essay is well intended as a psychological recruitment  tool (though such a purpose was lost somewhere along the way hence becoming a mere routine). The necessity for this kind of essay is due to the fact that police is not an ordinary career option but a vocation requiring a certain profile and professing certain attributes that are irreducible. And this can only be captured at recruitment (entry point) through self disclosures of deep personal policing values or otherwise.

So having reviewed some files, I have been astounded at the various reasons ascribed to by young innocent recruits as to why they joined the police service. Some candidly talk of: love for being a traffic officer; being just in need for a job (that they were jobless and desperate at the time); to earn a living; others “that was what was available”; a love for the uniform; a love for guns; a love for power… etc. So these are some of the key motivations of officers driving their police career decisions. Very few reviews argue a case for service provision need!

As alarming as this may sound, I have just been jolted out of my forced indifference towards this as I read an interview conducted by a section of the media with a police officer in today’s papers. Danson Mungai aka Mr. Kulmax is allegedly an administration police officer who is also a singer that uses his music to inspire social change. He seems to be a very fine officer with a bright future. He is photographed in full combat uniform donning a G3 rifle – a very proud officer that I admire. As at the time of interview,  the officer was serving on a national security operation duty deep in the trenches of Baragoi, Samburu  (a hero there). As said, in addition to core policing, he is pushing a side hustle of doing music targeting the youth especially to rid them off drugs (a change champion there!). In short, constable Danson  is not your average police officer but a quintessential one and a model focused to serve with a difference. Kudos to him.

Officer Danson stands tall and ready to defend the motherland and citizens

Only that he joined the service for all the wrong reasons, in my opinion. In his own response to a question posed on when he joined the police force, he says as follows:

“I joined administration police service in 2005. This was a turning point in my life because I got the chance when I was so desperate and broke not forgetting it was so hard for me to sustain my living in the city to a point that I engaged in petty crimes in the slums of Dandora. No one in my family knew about it and luckily, I never got arrested.”

Gallant officer on an anti-drug youth crusade through gift of music

These are his own words. And a very scaring confession from a risk management point of view, especially for the police career, if you asked me. I wonder if he wrote the same candour in his first police essay on ‘Why I Joined the Police Force.’ If so, then someone slept on the job, then.

In such words, the officer joined policing out of frustration and desperation. It was not a balanced choice, or a career of first choice. In fact he had no options then. He also had a crime involvement. I can only hope that he got cleaned up in due course and saw the light as Saul saw his on the way to Damascus. That’s very important in this scenario.

Candour is good. Especially when it leads to a total change of habits and temperament. This vigilance of behaviour change is bestowed on a proactive strategic human resource function to profile and keep track of progress of staff, especially those from a risky past.  But as an optimist, I pray and trust all is well in this case.

Otherwise that small essay we wrote as officers on our first day at academy can make or break our careers depending on what we disclose in it, or affect trust levels within the service and community. It says much about the kind of people that we are. It’s a summary of our holistic character (read culture), hence can inform biases to our own disadvantage as officers.

When you confess to having been motivated to join police service by making it to traffic, doubts arise. Why traffic and not GSU paramilitary (where men are separated from boys)? And what does the love for guns infer on one’s disposition? Propensity for violence? Whatever you may mean, you eventually get an uphill task of redeeming yourself through endless explanations, and for the rest of your career. Same thing for a law enforcement officer with a crime past!

A terrible situation for an officer to be in.

When opportunity fails to meet preparation: case study of NPS

“Luck is when opportunity meets preparation.”

Anonymous

Many believe in luck, yet woe unto them. What does lottery winners and widows have in common? Opportunity without preparation!  Let me explain:

Studies abound where lottery winners, raking in millions of shillings run aground back to ground zero faster than they knew what hit them. Then there is Brian Tracey,  my all-time favorite personal development guru through his writings, trainings and power talks. Listening to one of his audio recently (which I love to bits), the guru shared some stuff which caught my undivided attention. Underscoring a point, he illustrated an example of statistics detailing widows in the US and Canada who upon inheriting billions from their late husbands soon grounded the once-upon-a-time thriving empires (fortunes build over a lifetime, or even through family generations!) So these statistics set me aghast, wondering aloud what I wasn’t getting right. It’s then I recalled the above quote.

There is nothing like being lucky with regard to creation and ultimate sustenance of wealth or value proposition. To replicate success follows in certain programmed best practice approaches mastered over time. It boils down to ‘aspiration’ and ‘perspiration’. Yes, you can be lucky to get into some windfall, but such luck can’t take one far without upfront and adequate preparation of what it takes to replicate the success over longer-time.

So preparation shall entail envisioning (aspiration) based on wise choices made. This then moves on to prudent and diligent execution of the strategy or road map deliberately designed to realise such a vision. It’s not easy, but there are no two ways about it. The option is only that – perspiration. It’s what Dr. Scott Peck refers to as “the road less traveled” in his classic book going by the same name.

But what is this concept of opportunity?  Contrary to popular belief that opportunity only knocks once, the truth is that opportunity abounds and is ever knocking for those prepared.  You only need to keep vigilance and be ready for any desirable eventuality as was preached by Jesus Christ in the tale of the three virgins waiting for a suitor; or as said by the scout’s motto: Be Prepared. That’s aka. serendipity and synchronicity – those unrelated events that appear to conspire and bring one some unexpected fortune. But behind such chance happenings as unknown to many are prior planning and preparation so subtle to be discerned.

But yet others become beneficiaries of goodwill based on extraneous factors, just the way a father may bequeath a child, or as alluded to by Brian Tracey, a widow suddenly inheriting a fortune upon demise of a partner.

Survival in all these instances shall be contingent on first fast adaptation to such a reality and how soon one shall move forward with confidence. For those in similar situations but without upfront preparation,  quick learning mastery suffices in the least.

And this is the unfortunate situation of our local policing. Some lady luck smile our way though we don’t leverage and build on. Although police do a relatively good job, most of the time, and at times even get out of their way to offer exemplary services under difficult conditions, nonetheless more can be done in such circumstances and within available resources. Let me explain further:

Constitution: It’s a bragging reality to state without any fear of contradiction that Kenya possesses the most ambitious and progressive constitution the world over. This supreme law is overly generous in many respects, and with an unrivalled bias towards relevant issues of policing (reforms and structure, etc), human rights, criminal justice amongst others. Democratic issues of rule of law and the due-process criminal justice are given prominence. All these factors give policing a greater and superior legal advantage to reform and move forward the police agenda consistent to modern aspirations. Can’t we surely take advantage?

Abounding public support: Kenyans are perhaps the most accommodating beings in the world. It doesn’t matter what wrongs are visited upon them even from the police quarters. They complain today and move on tomorrow. Such goodwill is good for local policing. We can build on such goodwill and generosity especially in this community policing era to build mutual partnerships beneficial to local police designs. Yes, we can.

Governmental goodwill: Kenya police is older than the Kenya government as it is known. We as an institution have been around since the creation of the protectorate under the imperialists and survived the country’s history to date. But never has police enjoyed more political goodwill and resource support than as with the Jubilee administration. I don’t have to belabor on this point as evidence abounds: better terms of service, more efficiencies through resource mobilisation and facilitation like the lease cars facility amongst others. Police and general security are some of the president’s pet projects. Can we leverage on such high level advantage strategically?

Leveraging power of increased knowledge base: Every evening officers are sharing classes at local campuses. Constables and DIGs alike share class notes and assignments. And all in the name of knowledge acquisition. The bottom-line here being a learning organisation based on personal mastery of individual and collective officers efforts. But what matters here more is how such knowledge is harnessed through proactive knowledge and talent management processes and how it is eventually deployed. And to the benefit of overall policing. Hope it’s being done for greater police utility.

Leveraging power of ICT: ICT is the backbone of current organisational processes and going forward, especially in this era of big data. It is well-known that police is a generator of big data from diverse quarters. Is it well-managed? Is ICT central to such a policy and practice if any? We are in the age of intelligence powered policing, a paradigm contingent on analytics of big data to inform realtime meaning to phenomena. Such meaning also enables more efficiency to good managerial decision-making rights. As such, more value shall be afforded towards effective service delivery.

Tapping into international policing framework: The sleeping giant of policing is international policing collaboration. This is the aspect of policing that networks global policing effort well beyond the framework of interpol which has bureaucratic limitations. Police operate better in a fluid environment of personal police-to-police contacts than hierarchical collaborations. This generates faster realtime intelligence outcomes to power international and transnational crimes investigation especially in crimes such as terrorism,  drug and gun dealing,  illicit smuggling of persons and ivory, white-collar frauds, etc. Going through international legal and diplomatic frameworks is very laborious especially in instances where intelligence need only be shared. That’s basically why all global defense forces and intelligence agencies have escalated their strategic operations to diplomatic levels so that they may mine more from international intelligence fortunes.  Local policing is left behind on this initiative as most progressive agencies such as the FBI and Germany’s BKA benefit globally. Can we follow suit especially given that we are targeted by most international crimes? Methinks it’s a worthy investment with a quantifiable ROI.

These are some of the available opportunities that we in the police can leverage on to build a more proactive and dynamic organisation well positioned to serve better and more confidently into the future. This requires a deliberate strategy to be well thought out and sold to key stakeholders for buy in.  But as already observed, such an effort shall be an easy sale given that the politics are on our side.

But should we not leverage on the opportunities through upfront preparation, then we shall miss on the luck factor.

We have no choice.

El Nino Early Warning and implication to security sector

Since May, so much predictions have been doing rounds on the expected El nino rains. This is a weather condition that results in prolonged heavy rains whose impact on socioeconomic activities is astronomical.

Because of this expected phenomenon, the government and it’s MDAs has gone on overdrive to plan and mitigate on the effects of El nino. Contingency funds for the purpose are prior budgeted. Strategies by related sectors are being formulated,  fine tuned and in other respects already being executed. This is a grand governmental mobilisation machinery at its best.

Not even the non governmental sector is left behind. They too have a role to play. El nino is after all a menace requiring a holistic approach and concerted efforts to tackle adequately.

So government’s MDAs, non governmentals and even private sector have joined hands to manage these climatic threat. If not well mitigated, a lot will go down the drain and to waste through destruction, disease,  loss of earning and opportunity,  and even deaths and injuries. So it’s upon individual sectors and industries to design appropriate countermeasure defences.

But in this conversation I don’t hear the voice of the security sector. Does it imply that there are no correlation and cause-effect relationship between weather and security?

This is not a far-fetched or ambitious question. It is very basic to the operation of the security sector. Indeed weather affects security policy and practice especially at both the operational and tactical levels.

I read in the media of a terror alert attributed to the Inspector General warning of a possible al Shabaab attack to the homeland. The risk factor attributed being the El nino rains. This thus answers the above question in the affirmative. Yes, indeed weather and climate does affect security choices.

As I write, KDF forces are on a continental security operation in Somalia.  Also we have other major national multidisciplinary security operations in Boni Forest and Baragoi amongst other areas. In these operations logistical support is paramount in addition to ordinary manoeuvre. Officers must be moved and delivered across terrain and enemy lines. Supplies must be deployed in realtime for operational efficacies. Communication is also of import. All these are part of the crucial strategies,  operational and tactical planning and execution.  And all of it is directly and indirectly contingent on the weather patterns of the time.

Closer to normal security operations especially within policing,  officers must report on duty daily: beat, court processes support,  security provisions,  and critical to main cities – traffic control. We all know what happens in Nairobi with only light showers. Add in an El nino condition with all possible floods and you have a cloaked city with a gridlocked traffic system. And as motorists idle in their cars, cursing, traffic officers have to put up with it in frustration endeavouring to uncloak the system. Same applies even in remote villages like flooded Budalangi or Nyando plains where drowned bodies must be collected by the police from cut off areas courtesy of El nino. Not easy.

So as we plan for El nino,  police and larger security should be part of this overall strategy. Security operations may not be hampered during the period only if proper proactive and systemic planning goes into El nino mitigation from the security perspective. Just as the education sector plans on how to hire or lease planes to deliver exam papers during the rainy period,  so should police avail strategic deployment and supply options for all ongoing operations.

El nino affects all, and so should be the concern of the security sector just as with the rest.

POLICE AND USE OF DEADLY FORCE

Undoubtedly one of the most controversial areas touching on police professionalism and integrity, and accounting majorly for the existing gulf in the police-public relations is to do with police utility of deadly force.

Police are authorised by law to use deadly force and sanctioned violence against ‘citizens’ in certain circumstances when public security, peace and tranquility are threatened.  This is to say it is as a last option for police to resort to such extreme measure in the larger utility of common good. Therefore for this necessity of inherent rights option to be called in, certain irreducible minimums must have been considered and balanced beforehand judiciously.

Yet this is where the rub of policing lies. Police operate in a very fluid, dynamic and complex environment. This is the field colloquially referred to as policing “wicked” problems.  Just imagine any mortal armed with a gun and empowered by law (which has been donated expressly by the public) being confronted by a desperate situation of marauding and dangerously armed criminals who equally put such a person’s own life in danger? These are minimalist scenarios police confront daily in discharge of their duty for the public’s good. And such are the split-second moments when firearms are either utilised responsibly or unfortunate deadly fire deployed against such offending citizens.

Power to use deadly force is regulated by law. Further, it is balanced by the moral virtue to do good to humanity. This is so since loss of life is safeguarded not only by the criminal law but equally by both the divine and natural laws. It’s against divinity in whichever form and also the order of nature to take one’s life in unjustifiable and savage manner. Life is sacred and must be safeguarded at all costs. That is why it is the primary irreducible duty of every officer to defend and safeguard life before any other duty imposed or imagined.

Once upon a time, Cain – Adam’s son – killed Abel, his brother out of jealousy. God was infuriated that he banished him with a curse. In many cultures, murder is abominable. In murder investigations, it’s popularly said that the “dead never tell tales” – but it’s the duty of the living to avenge such death through prudent and diligent investigations. That is why murder investigation cannot be simply wished away. In fact the rules regulating homicide investigation are well-thought out to defeat any shenanigans. Given such a backdrop, it gets worse when it’s an officer meant to defend life to be the one to abuse such a basic responsibility.

Once I tutored at the police academy as a criminal law instructor. My mainstay was the law of evidence. One of my beloved lesson was simply on arrest. I used to put more deliberate thought in this discussion with the trainees than any other discourse due to the import I attached to it. I felt then, and still do hold that it is through arrest of criminals that the challenge of use of force including deadly force arise. Of course use of force is a substantive topic discussed under the police practical theory, but unfortunately it’s not well-developed and covered from the legal perspective. This thus limits the overall understanding of legal implications attached to use of force, however legal it might sound. Police theory unfortunately tends only to justify the ‘justifiable’ instances where use of force is applicable.

True, there are instances when utility of force is not only necessary but even exigent. Life includes that of the officer. So he has a duty to defend himself first and foremost.

So there is need for a balance over when to use and when not to use deadly violence against citizens. The test of “reasonableness” apply in this instance. This test is not well ingrained in the law, but well articulated by the developed jurisprudence. Further, various international instruments and protocols guide on this delicate issue. Above all, the emotional intelligence of officers which informs their moral cultural character arise. Officers with a high moral intelligence will always think twice before pulling the trigger. And this judgement should take place in nanoseconds.

This is what’s meant by police discretion. Discretion rooted in morality more than legality. Morality that respects human life and dignity. Morality that appreciates ripple-effects to victims of murder: dependents. This therefore acts as a reminder to officers the due-process dictum: better ten guilty to go scot-free than one innocent to be imprisoned (including execution for a murder rap amongst other serious crimes) unlawfully. If that is bad, what of an innocent life taken in the name of law enforcement?

But this is not to say that officers should trade their lives and those of law-abiding citizens with those of criminals hellbent to alter good living. Officers must apply the principle of utility – being that of more good to the majority. Therefore if threatened, they have to respond with deadly fire, and at all cost. That’s the only way society can be safeguarded against impurities of a few. But when discretion dictates otherwise, then Peel’s principal number seven apply: police never to enter the juridical thicket!

Let the honorable justices pick the baton and run their lap. After all it is the criminal justice system – the conveyor belt, just as with the relay.

Reflections of a PA.

“… a small person who pretends to be the boss…” is the way a personal assistant was described by one I will call Mr. X. This was during a heated moment when he had kind of managed to literally frogmarch me to my boss’ office – Director of Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI). And this being when I had finally bowed to his incessant and annoying demands that he be allowed to meet the director over issues that I had been handling though he had insisted required higher influence peddling.

Truth be told, even in the constitutional rights regime, not all can be able to access the ever busy CEOs who concern themselves more with overall strategic leadership than mundane running of their outfits. This means they labour most of their day’s working hours in stretched meetings and more meetings of one sort or the other. Indeed that’s one key reason as to why they have competent staffers to handle most of the administrative functions on their behalf. But Mr. X had insisted and persisted that he had to meet the director at all costs out of right and not necessity.

This is the story of Mr. X and myself, showcasing what PA’s go through all in a fair day’s work. Mr. X happened to be one of the Kenyans with a penchant for their rights – even when not necessary – especially with the advent of the new constitution. It didn’t make matters better that he came from a prominent family with a historical name associated with it. A mention of his surname only and any Kenyan could place him on the country’s calendar of major events. Then the cincher,  Mr. X had schooled in the US where he had honed his human rights attitude.

And not that there was anything personal between the two of us. If anything I was the only good guy at the directorate’s headquarters who could tolerate him any time especially meeting him at will. Yet such goodwill was my Waterloo since it’s said familiarity breeds contempt. But nonetheless we became good acquaintances due to limited occupational choices.

He was the face of a criminal complaint pitting his family’s lucrative property within the city and other entities. All was well with the investigation, only that he was rather bullish with his otherwise tiring rights narrative. He had as a result fallen out with the investigation team and any other person in line. It was either his way or none! Rather a stiff-lip fella there.

Having exhausted all his rights to recourse, he had stormed the director’s office one day fuming for an audience in a rather abrasive manner. That is when he had been referred by the secretaries to me as the PA to attend to him. So he had begun, scowling and cursing all the officers, including me and entire headquarters, and dropped some big names and addresses, threatening some consequences. I listened dispassionately,  unperturbed, and didn’t budge, but politely and respectively gave my position. I then made inquiries from other respective offices calling for briefs for informed decision-making on the matter, all the while assuaging and massaging his bloated ego. And that had begun the long relationship with my bully client.

So as we finally settled for a talk with the director in his office, having obliged him, Mr. X had exclaimed, “Director, your PA has frustrated me for so long blocking me from seeing you […] You know a PA is a small person who pretends to be the boss…” He had rumbled on and on. And we all laughed at the otherwise mean dry humor, with him sneering in my direction to rub it in. I laughed on too. And the meeting had progressed well.

Then, as a dutiful and committed Catholic with whom the Pope is a big deal, I recently found myself following the Pontiff’s itinerary in the USA very closely. In fact when he was scheduled to address the joint congress sitting, I skived afternoon work just go to some comfortable joint within town just to follow the proceedings on TV. I knew well it was a historical moment worth being part of than being a third-party news recipient.

So it was not about congress’ speaker’s eternal sobs that caught my attention (though I was really moved) but some insignificant albeit brief incident that occurred the moment the Pope was received by the speaker in the welcoming room in company of the princes’ of the church. As they settled down over greetings, there was a cleric (definitely not a cardinal but a junior whom I presumed to be the PA) in the background who quickly stepped in to save an otherwise embarrassing moment when he sensed all was not well. The Pope was not an eloquent English speaker, hence couldn’t converse competently with the congress speaker who was already busy conversing him with obvious difficulties.

So the PA quickly moved in between the two principals to interpret sitting at arm’s length next to the other. But there was a hitch. No provision had been made for interpretation! There was no interpreter’s seat provided. It was a rather awkward time as someone rushed to fetch a chair. Thereafter all flowed well. And that’s  ” … the small man who pretends to be the boss…” for you!

Pope meets congress speaker with PA in background

This brings me to the main important question: Are PAs the small people, mere cogs in the wheel or crucial players that can shape organisational destiny? Am not sure, but will try to answer.

I have had the enviable opportunity of serving in the capacity of a PA to the CEO – director of DCI. It was good when it lasted. And yet the very position is a poisoned chalice. A PA is that fella with no substantive role, yet he is ever in the kitchen where the heat is hottest. This is the guy who may come lower in the pecking order of the firm yet he is the chief gatekeeper and key member of strategy. It’s only the PA who knows when the boss has a good or a bad day.

So it’s very normal finding very senior executives lining up for the PA’s favors or informed position, since he knows better. And most CEOs have the ear of their PAs since they know they mean well and serve in their best interest: you either swim together or sink together! Whoever saw the Pope’s aide (PA) rush to normalize a situation that had been overlooked by the best protocol can offer knows what am talking about. Wherever the Pope went, even in the toy Fiat, the PA was there since they must converse continuously and touch base on key issues: itinerary, talking points, programmes, expectations, speech revision, etc.

And here am not talking of ordinary aides masquerading as PAs and running petty errands for boss. Am taking about senior staffers in their right running administrative dockets within their CEOs busy office functions. Officers competent enough to ensure smooth sailing of the ship even in the absence of the boss even though the substantive deputy is in the saddle. Truth is that there are certain functions a CEO cannot delegate and which can best be handled only by the trusted PA (housekeeping issues).

Director DCI addressing a media briefing function at Serena Hotel

So inasmuch as a PA is a visible creature mostly around boss, very little is understood of what entails his functions. In fact even most PAs don’t equally do (understand), since they are never given a specific job description, or a substantive portfolio. It’s only you as a PA to define, communicate and firm your role; and determine whether you’ll extend or collapse boundaries. The bottom line being that you have to bring certain competencies that add value to the boss and entire organization, or as Mr. Trump is wont of saying, “You are fired!”

So loyalty is the first test. Hear no evil, see no evil and say no evil. Then strive always to be ahead of the bend and learning curve so as to see what’s emerging ahead. Then, do you get the big picture? Everyone comes for answers from the PA since they trust you know all on market and industry concerns. A PA must be a jack of all trades and a master of all, not none! As a PA, you run most of the special projects with boss’ interest, and most of them outside your core competences. So you must be a fast learner and develop personal mastery to acceptable proficiency as a survival instinct. Above all, be beyond reproach like Caesar’s wife.

Director DCI officiating a closing ceremony of DCI officers at the Kenya School of Government

Then the PR. This is core. As a gatekeeper, you must endear yourself to all, senior and junior alike. At DCI it’s more crazy for the PA. Everyone from all the corners of Kenya wants to have a piece of the director than any other public functionary I can think of since technically director handles and oversees all issues criminal. So any Kenyan dissatisfied with investigative processes and outcomes finds a way to Nairobi to seek audience for redress. And of course they all see the PA, not director as hoped and wished. And because they come in confidence that they will obtain justice from the chief investigator (director), you (PA) must put your best foot forward-down and deliver, nonetheless. Never easy with bully visitors like my good friend Mr. X, though!

Then talk of internal queues. As a CEO, boss is captain of his troops as much as he’s the leader to lead through interaction. So officers line to consult, brief, complain, seek guidance, pay courtesies and more. Of course few will make it beyond the PA who has to bear the brunt of such frustrations. And what of marketers of police related merchandise solutions wishing to make a business pitch? That’s a PA’s ulcer!

So you sit at your desk, take teas and coffees as you work on projects, fire memos, plan meetings, work on forgotten but due minutes, check, read and reply to official mails, meet and pacify VIPs waiting for boss still yet in another stretched meeting with another VIP, work out the ever ringing calls, miss your lunch break because the waiting room is still overflowing with more visitors including Mr X, get an ulcer and blood pressure, and only soon to find its dark outside yet still serving! And that’s the time boss calls you to his office to go through the day’s events and plan for the next one with him. And when just about to close for the day, heck, there is that speech for the function early next morning that you had forgotten to work on … All in a PA’s fair day’s work!

It’s tough being PA, yet fulfilling. When you focus and purpose to give out the best, you get as much. They say the toughest metal is that which has been melted longest in the furnace. At least I met my Waterloo, and my Waterloo – the defining moment of crowning my service with the icing on the cake – was when I stuck out my five grueling yet accomplished years of policing in the trenches and muddle of being PA to DCI.

Yet it was in the back-room of core policing, not frontline. No one can actually put a finger with certainty on what a PA really does, yet he does everything. When things work, a PA’s hand lurks somewhere in the shadows; and when they don’t rise to the occasion, then there is a problem somewhere. He is an unsung hero who should be celebrated more often than not. He simply puts in much than is imagined and known. To all PAs adding value to police CEOs, or elsewhere in the C-suites, we owe you, and owe it to you!

And having been there, done that, am ready to tackle challenges, and in any other role or form. That’s at least the benefits of being PA: getting the baptism of fire.

Please just bring it on, won’t you?