Nakuru Deputy Governor, Eric Korir has called for concerted efforts from the government, civil societies and corporates to ensure the wellbeing of police officers.
He reiterated the need to ensure that police officers, among other employees get a conducive working and living environment to uplift their morale for better service delivery.
Speaking during the handing over of the repainted Nakuru Central Police Station to the station’s OCS Chief Inspector Derrick Nyaga, the Deputy Governor said cases of mental illness and depression were high in the police service.
The Sh1.5 million repainting job was done by Crown Paints in partnership with Nakuru County Government as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility.
He added that cases of depression were manifesting in different ways among officers with increased cases of shootings and homicide.
He cited the most recent case where a police woman, Caroline Kangogo shot and killed her two colleagues before going into hiding.
“Numerous studies have shown that the work environment can have a significant effect on the behaviour, perceptions and productivity of employees,” said Korir.
He said the County Executive was happy to have partners with Crown Paints in enhancing the image of the police station.
“The Department of Environment will further partner with the National Police Service in a tree planting exercise in the station for a conducive work environment,” he said.
He urged the paints manufacturer to open a factory in Nakuru County targeting consumers in the fast-growing residential and commercial property market in the region.
Present during the event were Crown Paints Group HR Director Nicholas Mwanambisi, Nakuru Deputy Police Commander SSP Jospeh Tonui and Community Policing Committee members among others.
Korir’s sentiments were echoed by Mwanambisi who said there was need for psycho-social support in the National Police Service to help address some of the challenges the officers were facing.
While urging the government to intervene, Mwanambisi said the psycho-social support programme would be vital and timely.
