Japhet Koome: From Engineering Graduate To IG

Following the adoption of the 2010 constitution, Japhet Koome has been sworn in as the fourth Inspector General of the National Police Service.

Japheth Koome, an engineer with 31 years of police service, was sworn in by Chief Justice Martha Koome on Friday morning at the Supreme Court premises.

IG Koome succeeds Mr. Noor Gabow, who had been serving in an acting capacity since IG Hilary Mutyambai retired on September 27, 2022, citing health reasons, as announced by President William Ruto.

When Koome enlisted as a Police Constable in the then-Kenya Police Force in 1991, he began his career as a police officer. This came after earning a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Nairobi in 1990.

While still a student at Kagumo High School, IG Koome is claimed to have developed a strong desire to join the police department.

According to reports, Koome attended the Kenya Police College in Kiganjo twice weekly while in Form Five as part of a program called Kenya Police Cadet Cops to learn about police service.

Koome served as a police policeman in Nairobi after graduating from Kiganjo before being sent to the Anti-Stock Theft Unit (ASTU) in Gilgil.

According to a section of his profile provided by the police service, “Eng Koome was advanced from a constable to an Inspector of police while at the unit credited with the recovery of stolen animals, and by 1998, he was a gazetted officer, with the rank of Superintendent of Police.

Later, Eng. Koome was sent to the Buru Buru police division where he served as the deputy divisional commander before being called back to general duty.

As the OCPD for Nairobi’s Machakos, Maragua, Buru Buru, and Central districts, Koome was also praised with mercilessly combating armed criminal gangs in the Eastlands neighborhood of Nairobi and bank robbers who had been terrorizing city residents.

IG Koome then held the position of Director of Planning at Police headquarters for ten years, during which time he oversaw a program to replace outdated police facilities with more affordable alternatives.

Koome worked as the head of the Nairobi police department, the deputy inspector general’s primary assistant at Vigilance House, and the commandant of the National Police College Main Campus-Kiganjo prior to being nominated by President Ruto for the position of inspector general.