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The Kenya Police Reserve (KPR) was formed in 1948 to assist the regular Kenya Police in the maintenance of law and order. The KPR exists in rural areas of Kenya as an auxiliary force to combat cattle theft and armed banditry. [1] The KPR is not to be confused with the Kikuyu Home Guard.
In 1943, the Kenya Legislative Council passed a National Service Act that made conscription compulsory for European residents of Kenya. This was amended in 1944 with the Auxiliary Police Ordinance, which made provision for conscripts to fulfill their national service in the Auxiliary police, supporting the regular Kenya Police. (The Kenya Police were at this time under pressure from war-time commitments). The Auxiliary Police regulations lasted from January 1945 until February 1947, after which they were repealed. It was found, however, that the Kenya Police were still short of personnel, and in February 1947 it was agreed that 255 former Auxiliary Police would be retained on a voluntary basis, but would be known as Special Police, their basis in law being section 70 of the Kenya Police Ordinance which made provision for what in the UK would be called special constabulary. In 1948 a new Kenya Police Ordinance was brought into law, section 57 of which makes provision for the Special Police.
In early 1948 the Kenya Police Reserve Ordinance was passed to establish the Kenya Police Reserve. It too was set up on the lines of the UK special constabulary, with a command structure in parallel to that of the regular force. Uniforms and scales of equipment were identical to that of the regular force, although the KPR wore brass badges rather than the chrome badges of the regular force. KPR members were armed, and in remote areas were allowed to keep their weapons at home; but they were not issued with automatic weapons (this provision was lifted during the Mau Mau uprising). The KPR was open to Europeans, Asians and Africans, although Europeans were favoured with automatic promotion to Inspector rank.
The Special Police did not disband, but remained in operation alongside the KPR. In March 1953 the Special Police were expanded dramatically when Africans were allowed to join; some 2000 did so, and served with distinction. They did not receive the full uniform of the police and used improvised weapons at first. Eventually the Special Police were issued rifles, as the reliability and efficiency of the SP was demonstrated.
The KPR were the originators of the Kenya Police Reserve Air Wing, with KPR members donating the use of their private aircraft. [2] They played a vital role in supplying aerial intelligence and air-dropped supplies to forces fighting the Mau Mau.
In post colonial Kenya the KPR carried on very much as when it was originated. In rural areas of Kenya, very often the KPR are the only police presence. Armed with obsolete rifles, they are the first line of defence against bandits and cattle thieves. [1] Many of those involved in cattle theft in rural Kenya carry firearms smuggled from neighboring countries such as Somalia or South Sudan. [1]
In May 2004 the Kenya Government disbanded the KPR in urban areas, noting that the various city units had become corrupt and unmanageable.
In May 2019 the Inspector General disarmed the KPR in north rift counties, citing reports of reservists misusing their weapons. [3] In June 2019, the Kenyan government selected 40 KPR personnel to undergo training at the National Police College Magadi. [4] These retrained reservists were later deployed at volatile counties, where they had been withdrawn a month earlier, to beef up security. [4]
In March 2022, the Kenyan government rearmed the KPR in rural areas under pressure from civilians, mostly in Baringo North and South constituencies, who complained that the reservists had been vital in combating criminal activity. [5] The KPR was to receive weapons and training from the General Service Unit. [5]
The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) are the armed forces of the Republic of Kenya. They are made up of the Kenya Army, Kenya Navy, and Kenya Air Force. The current KDF was established, and its composition stipulated, in Article 241 of the 2010 Constitution of Kenya; it is governed by the KDF Act of 2012. Its main mission is the defence and protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kenya, recruitment to the KDF is done on yearly basis. The President of Kenya is the commander-in-chief of the KDF, and the Chief of Defence Forces is the highest-ranking military officer, and the principal military adviser to the President of Kenya.
The Mau Mau rebellion (1952–1960), also known as the Mau Mau uprising, Mau Mau revolt, or Kenya Emergency, was a war in the British Kenya Colony (1920–1963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as the Mau Mau, and the British authorities. Dominated by Kikuyu, Meru and Embu fighters, the KLFA also comprised units of Kamba and Maasai who fought against the European colonists in Kenya, the British Army, and the local Kenya Regiment.
The Royal Irish Constabulary was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the country was part of the United Kingdom. A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP), patrolled the capital and parts of County Wicklow, while the cities of Derry and Belfast, originally with their own police forces, later had special divisions within the RIC. For most of its history, the ethnic and religious makeup of the RIC broadly matched that of the Irish population, although Anglo-Irish Protestants were overrepresented among its senior officers.
The King's African Rifles (KAR) was a British Colonial Auxiliary Forces regiment raised from Britain's East African colonies in 1902. It primarily carried out internal security duties within these colonies along with military service elsewhere during the world wars and other conflicts, such as the Malayan Emergency and the Mau Mau uprising. The regiment's enlisted soldiers were drawn from the native Africans, while most officers were seconded from the British Army. During the 1960s, as part of the decolonisation of Africa, more African officers were commissioned into the regiment before it was gradually disbanded. KAR battalions would go on to form the core of newly established armed forces throughout East Africa.
The Ulster Special Constabulary was a quasi-military reserve special constable police force in what would later become Northern Ireland. It was set up in October 1920, shortly before the partition of Ireland. The USC was an armed corps, organised partially on military lines and called out in times of emergency, such as war or insurgency. It performed this role most notably in the early 1920s during the Irish War of Independence and the 1956-1962 IRA Border Campaign.
Auxiliary police, also called volunteer police, reserve police, assistant police, civil guards, or special police, are usually the part-time reserves of a regular police force. They may be unpaid volunteers or paid members of the police service with which they are affiliated.
The British South Africa Police (BSAP) was, for most of its existence, the police force of Southern Rhodesia and Rhodesia. It was formed as a paramilitary force of mounted infantrymen in 1889 by Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company, from which it took its original name, the British South Africa Company's Police. Initially run directly by the company, it began to operate independently in 1896, at which time it also dropped "Company's" from its name. It thereafter served as Rhodesia's regular police force, retaining its name, until 1980, when it was superseded by the Zimbabwe Republic Police, soon after the country's reconstitution into Zimbabwe in April that year.
The Kenya Regiment was a unit of the British Army recruited primarily among white settlers in Kenya and to a lesser extent Uganda. Formed in 1937, it was disbanded at the oubreak of World War II in 1939. It was reformed in 1950 and participated in the suppression of the Mau Mau uprising (1952–56). It was finally disbanded on Kenyan independence in May 1963.
The Rajasthan Police is the law enforcement agency for the state of Rajasthan in India. The Rajasthan Police has its headquarters in the Jaipur, the state capital. The motto of the force is "committed to serve".
The Bermuda Police Service is the law enforcement agency of the British Overseas Territory and former Imperial fortress of Bermuda. It is responsible for policing the entire archipelago, including incorporated municipalities, and the surrounding waters. It is part of, and entirely funded by, the Government of Bermuda. Like the Royal Bermuda Regiment, it is under the nominal control of the territory's Governor and Commander in Chief, although, for day-to-day purposes, control is delegated to a minister of the local government. It was created in 1879, as Bermuda's first professional police service. In organisation, operation, and dress, it was created and has developed in line with the patterns established by British police services, such as the City of Glasgow Police, and the Metropolitan Police Service.
The Administration Police Service (APS) is a paramilitary security organization and is a branch of the Republic of Kenya's National Police Service.
The General Service Unit (GSU) is a paramilitary wing in the Kenya Police Service, consisting of highly trained police officers, transported by seven dedicated Cessnas and three Bell helicopters. Having been in existence since 1948, the GSU has fought in a number of conflicts in and around Kenya, including the 1963 – 1969 Shifta War and the 1982 Kenyan coup.
Kenya's National Police Service (NPS) is the umbrella law enforcement organ in Kenya. The service was established in 2011 under Article 243 of the Constitution of Kenya, following dissolution of Kenya Police Force and Administration Police Force.
A field force in British and Indian Army military parlance is a combined arms land force operating under actual or assumed combat circumstances, usually for the length of a specific military campaign. It is used by other nations, but can have a different meaning.
East Africa Command was a Command of the British Army. Until 1947 it was under the direct control of the Army Council and thereafter it became the responsibility of Middle East Command. It was disbanded on 11 December 1963, the day before Kenya became independent, and replaced by British Land Forces Kenya, tasked with withdrawing all remaining British troops. All remaining troops left by December 1964 and British Land Forces Kenya was disestablished.
The Kenya Army is the land arm of the Kenya Defence Forces.
A special constable or special police constable can refer to an auxiliary or part-time law enforcement officer or a person who is granted certain (special) police powers.
The State Armed Police Forces of India are the police units established for dealing with serious law and order situations requiring a higher level of armed expertise than normal. The State Armed Police Forces exist in addition to the ordinary police services of the various states.
Operation Anvil was a British military operation during the Mau Mau Uprising where British troops attempted to remove suspected Mau Mau from Nairobi and place them in Langata Camp or reserves. The operation began on 24 April 1954 and took two weeks, at the end of which 20,000 Mau Mau suspects had been taken to Langata, and 30,000 more had been deported to the reserves.
The Nandi Resistance was a military conflict that took place in present-day Kenya between 1890 and 1906. It involved members of the Kalenjin ethnic group, mainly from the Nandi section, and the British colonial administration. The close of the 19th century, a time referred to as the "pacification period" by Matson, saw a number of local populations that resisted British colonial rule. Of these, the Nandi resistance would stand out for being the longest and most tenacious.
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