Traffic police officers in Kenya belong to the Kenya Police Traffic Department, one of the Formations of the Kenya Police Service, which is part of the umbrella National Police Service (NPS).
The traffic department, with its headquarters also in the main Police HQ at Vigilance House in Nairobi, was formed in accordance with Section 24 of the National Police Service Act, 2011, which outlines its functions:
As the name ‘traffic’ implies, traffic police provide oversight in matters relative to the safe use of roads; their functions and duties include ensuring the free flow of vehicles moving on public highways and primary roads, prevention of road accidents and investigating accidents, and enforcing all laws, rules, and regulations with which the department is charged, alongside initiating road safety sensitization to the members of the public.
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Generally, keeping the travelling public and general transportation facilities safe and secure and increasing mobility by setting safety regulations governing them are among the top priorities of the Kenya Police Traffic Department.
How to join traffic police in Kenya
Because the Kenya Police Traffic Department is under the Kenya Police Service of the National Police Service (NPS), traffic cops are recruited first and trained as regular police officers before undergoing further specialized training to become traffic personnel.
So, if you want to be a traffic police in Kenya, you must attend the yearly police recruitment, where you will be shortlisted, if you meet the requirements, and sent to train at any of the Kenya Police Colleges in the country.
“Be aged between 18 and 28 years for holders of KCSE Examination Certificate or its equivalent, and up to 30 years for diploma and degree holders,” they say. However, as the story goes, from 2024, NPS will be raising the entry age to 21 and the minimum KCSE grade from D Plus to C Minus.
After completing your training, also likely to be raised to 12 months (one year) from the current nine months, you can apply to join the Kenya Police Traffic Department therein;
If successful, you will be re-admitted to the police college for deep skilling to have the highest possible standards of competence to serve as a professional traffic police officer.
In the recent past, general duty police officers were allowed to join trained traffic personnel and assist in carrying out their day-to-day duties like monitoring traffic, but after Deputy Inspector General Douglas Kanji, in an order sent to all police heads in the country, told them “You are directed to deploy back to general duty, all those officers who had been attached to traffic duties. Ensure that they are deployed back to police station general duties,” from now on, one must be trained as a traffic cop to serve as one.
How much do traffic police officers make in Kenya?
As of 2024, the average traffic police officer in Kenya is earning Ksh17,190 per month, but, typically, their salary range falls between Ksh17,000, the lowest, to Ksh180,000 monthly depending on the rank, police officer job group, and the job grade to which one belongs.
But that said, the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) is considering raising the salaries of the lowest-paid traffic cops to about Ksh18,760 per month before the year ends.
