Motorcyclists ride by burning tyres during a police demonstration after a gang attack on a police station which left six officers dead, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, January 26, 2023. (inset) Deputy Inspector General of Police Noor Gabow.
The Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Noor Gabow, is not an ordinary cop. Hardened by decades of operations in dangerous missions around the world, the elite officer from the paramilitary Administration Police Service is a man of steel.
The world has now placed its hopes on his unique experience to lead an international police force tasked to restore order in Haiti, a country ravaged by criminal gangs. The violence has eroded the rule of law and brought state institutions close to collapse. More than 1,500 people have been killed this year.
President William Ruto offered to send 1,000 officers to Haiti to tame the gangs that have taken over the capital Port-au-Prince and now hold the nation hostage. The UN Security Council authorised the multinational security support mission in October.
For more than 10 years, Gabow had been attached to various United Nations peacekeeping units around the world, training officers in unstable countries.
Enlisted in 1991, he holds a Master of Governance, Peace and Security Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Penology. In November 1999, when he was the Officer Commanding Parklands Police Station (OCS), he stopped “routine weekend robberies” at the Kenya Commercial Bank’s Sarit Centre branch.
Concerned by the frequent robberies, Gabow and his juniors locked up bank staff after one supposed ‘heist’ and recovered millions of shillings from some of them. A security guard at the scene had revealed that the gangsters had not left with any money and that the fleeing robbers had dropped a moneybag, which was then thrown back into the bank shortly before police arrived. But the staff had insisted that the robbers fled with the money.
Gabow investigated and established that no robbery had taken place. Police recovered the “stolen money” inside the bank. The events of this day changed his career, catapulting him into bigger responsibilities. For the excellent investigation, Gabow was appointed as the deputy Officer Commanding Gigiri Police Division (OCPD).
The UN later came for his services. With blessings from Vigilance House, Gabow was sent to Sierra Leone for five years to reform the country’s police force. He was then deployed to Bosnia, where he was tasked with training the police after years of civil war. After this mission, he headed the UN Police Reforms Africa Desk in New York for seven years.
On his return to Vigilance House, he managed logistics. Under his watch, the government secured police stations around the country by building perimeter walls.
In September 2017, he took over as the Commandant, Kenya Police College, Kiganjo. A year later, he was promoted to Deputy Inspector-General, Administration Police Service, following the retirement of Samuel Arachi. One of his outstanding accomplishments is the picking of female officers for training and formation of the only women elite commando unit. Out of more than 100 female officers picked for the training, only 25 in the first batch finished the training.
Kenyans will remember Gabow as the officer who restored order that enabled the Independent Electoral Commission (IEBC) boss Wafula Chebukati to announce the presidential results of the August 2022 General Election.
A graduate of the UK-based International Academy Bramshill of the National Police Improvement, Gabow has reorganised the APS, which runs the Anti-Stock Theft Unit, Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU), Border Patrol Unit (BPU) and the Critical Installation Police Unit.
Elite forces
The Haiti mission will be conducted by elite officers from the Recce Squad, the RDU and the BPU. Recce officers carry M16, UZI, and AK 47 rifles and special Glock pistols suitable for urban warfare. After the initial training at Embakasi’s GSU camp, recruits with exemplary talent are picked up for further training at the Magadi camp, Solio ranch and Ruiru college for marksmanship and weaponry. Those who excel are then taken to Israel, US and United Kingdom for commando training.
Headquartered in Ruiru, the unit provides security to the presidency, a few embassies and high commissions and senior government officials on a need-basis. RDU and BPU normally patrol the border to keep Al Shabaab at bay.
