Agencies under the National Council on the Administration of Justice (NCAJ) have agreed to support the National Police Service to digitise its operations to enhance efficiency in the justice sector.
Among the processes earmarked for digitisation are the Occurrence Book at police stations, charge sheets, cash bail records and the operationalisation of instant traffic fines.
Chief Justice Martha Koome noted during the ongoing NCAJ Council meeting that the police service has not kept up with other agencies in using technology to improve service delivery and create interoperability with existing systems.
She pointed out that the Judiciary no longer deals with cash at any level, saying there is a need to help the National Police Service to digitise its operations including cash bail, to foster effectiveness.
The Chief Justice asked Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome, DCI Mohammed Amin and other members of the council to come up with their IT needs for presentation at an upcoming meeting with development partners to fund such initiatives.
IG Koome told the meeting that he receives complaints from the public about the handling of their cash bail at police stations.
He said that although some efforts have been made towards digitisation, much is yet to be done, and cited the urgency to digitise the Occurrence Book (OB).
The meeting noted that there is a need to come up with an application that will facilitate the receiving of cash bail and traffic fines.
The NCAJ meeting resolved to support the digitisation of the OB as a priority area.
The move by the NCAJ is in line with the council’s communique released Tuesday that resolved to digitise and automate processes within its institutions to enhance efficiency, accountability and seamless service delivery to the public.
In the communique, the NCAJ Council also committed to collaborate to automate instant traffic fines to ease backlog and root out abuse of process within the justice sector.
They resolved to mobilise adequate resources to sustain the efforts to support the fight against corruption, enhanced accountability and efficient service delivery.
