Tourist police unit to open new base in Kisumu
The Tourist Police Unit (TPU) has announced plans to open a new base in Kisumu city to take care of the Western tourism circuit.
TPU Commandant Paul Soi said even though the unit was facing a shortage of officers, the Kisumu base was critical to address security challenges facing the sector in the area which has recorded tremendous growth.
Soi said most of the cases reported to the unit which is headquartered in Nairobi with bases in Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi, Malindi, Narok and Nakuru involve burglary, theft and conmanship where tourists are swindled by unregistered tour operators.
“We have seen a rise in cases where tourists lose their valuables and money in hotels. In Maasai Mara we have recorded cases of tents being cut and money stolen from tourists,” he said.
To address the concerns, TPU, he said has scaled up community policing efforts to enhance sharing of information between the community and other sector players for effective response.
Through collaboration with the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) and tour operators, he said surveillance has been enhanced across all the tourist attraction sites to monitor movement of visitors and enhance their safety.
Speaking during a Tourism Safety workshop in Kisumu, the commandant urged hotel managers to keep an up to date records of all tourists using the facilities to ensure that their safety is guaranteed.
The information, he said must include the origin of the tourists and medical records to ensure that they are properly taken care of during their stay.
“This is a very serious matter. If the hotels obtained information on the affected tourists, proper mechanisms would have been put in place to give them support,” he said.
Tour operators, he added must enhance professionalism to ensure that visitors are treated well.
Cases of accidents involving tour vehicles, he said were on the rise with some seven lives lost this year.
The Kisumu office, he said will manage the larger western tourism circuit which covers over 14 counties.
