By James Okoth
In an era when technology has redefined every sector from banking to healthcare, the justice and security chain remains one of the hardest to modernize. Yet across the world, a few nations have begun rewriting the rules, taking policing, prosecution and court processes fully online.
In Dubai, the police force has already stepped into the future. Unmanned Smart Police Stations, open 24 hours, seven days a week, allow residents to report crimes, pay fines and obtain clearance certificates without ever speaking to an officer. The entire process is digital, traceable and seamless. Each complaint is automatically logged and linked to investigative systems and the courts, eliminating the long delays that once defined traditional policing.
In South Africa, the idea of an “e-police station” is no longer futuristic. The Kabokweni Police Station in Mpumalanga, launched in 2015, runs on a digital docket system that tracks every report from entry to closure. In municipalities like Ray Nkonyeni, digital call-handling systems allow citizens to report incidents online, with dispatch centres monitoring real-time police responses.
Then there is Rwanda, where the justice system has quietly become one of Africa’s most digitised. Through the Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS), all court cases — civil, criminal, or administrative — are filed, processed and decided electronically. Judges, prosecutors and lawyers operate on a shared digital platform, cutting costs and drastically reducing case backlogs.
Across these examples, one lesson stands out: when technology meets accountability, justice becomes not only faster but also fairer.
Kenya, too, has begun to walk this path.
The Ministry of Interior, through the National Police Service, is midstream in a bold plan to digitise police stations and streamline justice delivery.
In Nairobi, more than 70 police stations have replaced their traditional Occurrence Books (OBs) with digital OBs in a move that allows reports to be logged, stored and accessed in real time. A citizen who reports a theft or assault can now have their case tracked electronically, reducing the risk of lost records or altered statements.
By April 2025, the Interior Ministry projects that Kenyans will be able to report select incidents without physically visiting police stations. The move is part of a KSh 28 billion digital modernization program, expected to cover at least 80 percent of policing and administrative services in two years.
In parallel, the Judiciary has accelerated its own reforms, expanding e-filing, virtual court hearings and digital case tracking. Combined, these efforts are quietly nudging Kenya toward an integrated justice ecosystem.
Yet, despite the bold vision, the transformation is still incomplete. Many rural and peri-urban police stations remain fully manual, relying on physical occurrence books and handwritten dockets. Internet connectivity, equipment shortages, and inadequate training have slowed the rollout.
There are also deeper structural concerns.
Digital systems without clear data governance risk creating new forms of opacity, where only a few officers understand the technology, leaving citizens and oversight bodies in the dark. Privacy advocates have also raised questions about how data from the police’s “Safe City” surveillance network is stored and used, given Kenya’s limited record of transparency in security matters.
Perhaps the greatest challenge lies not in technology itself, but in mindset. For digitisation to succeed, it must not only replace paper with screens but also transform culture. Shifting from secrecy to accountability, from bureaucracy to service.
The Ministry of Interior under recent leadership has shown willingness to modernise, but it remains a house of contrasts. On one hand, there is progress: digital border systems, e-citizen integration and plans for online police certification. On the other, persistent issues of inefficiency, corruption and delayed service delivery continue to haunt the ministry’s reputation.
While Kenya’s digital agenda is ambitious and commendably clear in its roadmap, success will depend on three things:
- Integration: ensuring police, prosecution, and courts share one digital case file.
- Transparency: making crime and case data publicly accessible in anonymised formats for accountability.
- Capacity: training officers and citizens alike to use and trust digital systems.
Compared to nations like Dubai, South Africa, or Rwanda, Kenya’s digitisation of justice is still a work in progress, promising but patchy.
The groundwork has been laid: digital OBs, e-filing courts, crime-reporting apps, and ambitious plans for full online access.
But the test of progress will not be how sleek the systems appear, but how fairly and efficiently justice is delivered. The future of policing, in Kenya and beyond, will not be defined by sirens and uniforms but by data, transparency, and trust.
