Digital Policing in Kenya: Opportunities and Challenges

The advancement of technology has permeated all facets of life, including policing. This is necessary considering that many human activities and interactions today are facilitated by technology. In that respect, criminals have also leveraged technology to pursue their agendas. This makes it naturally logical for policing to advance in the same direction to curtail criminality perpetrated in the digital space. On one hand, technology helps policing efforts achieve their ends more efficiently, compared to the traditional methods that relied on hardcopy footprints to track criminals and criminality. On the other hand, technology is prone to abuse by law enforcement agencies in terms of breaching privacy and misuse of private data to undertake extra-legal investigations. This discourse delves into the adoption of policing by law enforcement agencies in Kenya in light of the opportunities and challenges presented so far. The paper advocates for strengthening the existing data protection laws and enforcing compliance to realise a transparent and accountable digital policing system, which balances security needs with privacy rights. There is also a need for implementing strict regulations and establishing oversight mechanisms to ensure facial recognition and Artificial Intelligent (AI) tools are deployed responsibly, ethically, and in a manner that upholds fundamental rights and freedoms in law enforcement. Besides, the establishment and implementation of training programs will go a long way in ensuring that law enforcement officers have the requisite skills and knowledge to effectively deploy the digital tools at their disposal. This is imperative for ensuring that they observe the legal mechanisms and protocols for collecting digital evidence and therefore, make it admissible in courts during prosecution. This will also empower them to knowledgeably navigate the legal and ethical pitfalls inherent in the deployment of digital policing tools, and therefore, safeguard the constitutional rights of members of the public