IG Joseph Boinnet has defended the choice of blue colour for new police uniforms saying it is universal and friendly to the public.
He said in Eldoret on Friday that the colour is recognised globally and its choice in Kenya would enable the police to easily integrate with civilians.
"In the recent reforms, the issue of the colour has been more spoken about but we chose it because it is more attributed to the police services."
The changes were announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta on September 13.
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The IG defended the reforms and said the changes would transform the police into a service and not a force.
Boinnet spoke during a meeting to inform police in the North Rift region of what is required of them in the face of the reforms.
He said the blue colour is also less militaristic because it is distinct from colours commonly used by other security forces.
"We wanted a colour that would be quite different from what is commonly used by security services in the country."
Kenyans raised their reservations with the new police uniform colour, design, and to some extent, quality.
Most critics 'cheekily' observed that the new uniforms have bigger pockets, adding that the reforms be centred on police behaviour than mere looks.
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The IG clarified that there was no merger of the Regular police and the Administration Police because the Constitution does not provide for such a merger.
"What we did is just to restructure the command chain for better services. We are not all merging the two services," he said.
However, he said distinct roles had been created for the DIGs in charge the police and Administration Police.
Boinnet said there would be no scrapping of some of the positions in the service adding that officers like OCPDs would be assigned different roles.
The IG also defended the decision to let officers live with civilians adding that senior officers have already been living outside police lines.
"There should be no concern because most of our senior officers live with members of the public and have been doing so very well," Boinnet said.
He said asked property investors to put up housing units near police stations so that officers can easily get houses near their posts.
"We are giving them a good house allowance to enable them to pay rent," Boinnet said adding that the sessions will be held countrywide.