How IG Japhet Koome rose from engineering graduate to Kenya's police boss

Engineer Japheth Koome, who has 31 years of experience in the Police Service, was sworn in Friday morning at the Supreme Court grounds by Chief Justice Martha Koome.

IG Koome takes over the mantle from Mr Noor Gabow who has been holding the position in an acting capacity following the retirement of IG Hilary Mutyambai on health grounds as announced by President William Ruto on September 27, 2022.

Koome joined the police service in 1991 when he was enlisted in the then-Kenya Police Force as a Police Constable. This was after graduating from the University of Nairobi in 1990, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering.

IG Koome's passion to join the police force is said to have begun while he was still a student at Kagumo high school. 

While in Form Five Koome is reported to have been visiting the Kenya Police College – Kiganjo twice a week under a programme dubbed, Kenya Police Cadet Cops, to learn police work.

After graduating from Kiganjo, Koome was first posted as a police constable in Nairobi before he was deployed to the Anti-Stock Theft Unit (ASTU) in Gilgil.

"It is while at the unit credited with the recovery of stolen livestock that Eng Koome was promoted from a constable to an Inspector of police and by 1998, he was a gazetted officer, at the rank of Superintendent of Police," reads part of his profile shared by the police service.

Eng. Koome would later recalled to general duty and posted to Buru Buru police division where he was the deputy divisional commander.

Koome also served as the OCPD Machakos, Maragua, Buru Buru and Central in Nairobi where he was credited for ruthlessly dealing with armed criminal gangs in Nairobi’s Eastlands and bank robbers who had been terrorising city residents.

IG Koome went on to serve as the Director of Planning at Police headquarters for 10 years where he spearheaded the police housing and modernization programme where dilapidated police structures were replaced with modest buildings. 

Prior to his nomination to the position of IG by President Ruto, Koome served as the Nairobi police boss, the principal assistant to the Deputy Inspector General at Vigilance house and the Commandant National Police College Main Campus-Kiganjo.