Scores of police officers in Eldoret have been reshuffled following heightened criminal activities that have left residents and the business community terrified.
Uasin Gishu Police Commander Benjamin Mwanthi said the move has been necessitated by an upsurge in cases of robbery with violence, killings and burglary attacks in the recent past.
Mwanthi said he took the move in a bid to restore public trust and confidence in the police following a public outcry over insecurity.
Addressing the media in his Eldoret office yesterday, Mwanthi said part of the security measures he has effected to tame the vice included reshuffling of officers who have served for a long period in same work station.
The residents had decried run-away crime in the areas and blamed the vice on some disgruntled police officers whom they claimed had overstayed in their work stations.
According to Mwanthi, the aforementioned areas have been mapped out as prone to criminal gang attacks by residents.
He has reiterated his commitment to bring the security situation back to normalcy.
“I have reshuffled a number of police officers who have served for over seven years in one station,” he explained. The criminal gangs that comprise youths aged between 20 and 35 years had declared curfew in the affected estates with residents calling for immediate intervention from the authorities.
“I have also deployed additional police officers from the Central Police Station to the affected estate to carry out day and night patrols until the situation comes to normal,” assured Mwanthi.
Commander has since urged residents and businesspeople to go on with their activities unperturbed, assuring that security has been beefed up.