DCI expands biometric police clearance services to diplomats

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has expanded its digital police clearance services to include diplomats, foreign nationals, and staff of international missions. This expansion was launched at the Diplomatic Police Unit (DPU) Headquarters in Nairobi, allowing these individuals to apply for Police Clearance Certificates (PCCs) locally without traveling to DCI Headquarters or Huduma Centres.

The service is part of the nationwide rollout of the Multi-Biometric Identification System (MBIS). This technology utilizes fingerprints, palm prints, and facial recognition to replace traditional ink-based fingerprinting and paper records. The implementation of MBIS has reduced the average processing time for certificates from 14 days to as little as one day under normal conditions.

Beyond speed, the system has significantly increased the agency’s capacity. Record-handling capacity has risen from two million to 10 million, while daily search capacity has increased from 4,500 to 20,000. The rollout follows previous phases that extended services to 20 additional centers across various regions, including parts of Central Kenya.