Kenya, June 10, 2026 – Inspector-General of Police Douglas Kanja is leading a high-level Kenyan delegation to Japan as the government intensifies preparations for the establishment of a specialized Metropolitan Police Unit for Nairobi and its surrounding areas.
The inter-ministerial delegation, comprising officials from the National Police Service, the Ministry of Interior and National Administration, the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, and Nairobi City County Government, is holding consultations with the Japan National Police Agency and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.
The visit is aimed at studying some of the world’s most advanced urban policing systems and identifying best practices that could be adapted to Kenya’s security environment.
According to the National Police Service, the delegation is focusing on intelligence-led policing, community policing, technology integration, specialized urban security operations, emergency response coordination, and crime prevention strategies.
The findings are expected to inform the establishment of Kenya’s proposed Metropolitan Police Unit, a flagship security initiative designed to address the increasingly complex security challenges facing Nairobi and its metropolitan region.
The planned unit is expected to operate alongside existing police structures while providing specialized capabilities to tackle urban crime, maintain public order, improve emergency response and address emerging security threats in the capital city.
The government has indicated that the new policing model will combine modern metropolitan policing approaches with community-based policing structures to strengthen public trust and improve security outcomes.
The Tokyo benchmarking mission comes weeks after Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen visited New York, where he held discussions with officials of the New York Police Department (NYPD) as part of Kenya’s efforts to develop the Metropolitan Police Unit.
During the visit, Murkomen said Nairobi required a modern policing framework capable of responding to the challenges associated with rapid urbanization, population growth and evolving criminal networks.