National Police Service · Internal Affairs Unit

Report police misconduct.
Anonymously, if you choose.

The Internal Affairs Unit is the body established under section 87 of the National Police Service Act to receive and investigate complaints against police officers — including complaints made by officers themselves.

File a complaint now Track an existing complaint
  • Anonymous filing supported
  • Operating since 2013
  • Free of charge, 24 hours a day
  • Built with UNODC & TI‑Kenya

This is IAU's lightweight service, kept deliberately simple so it stays online when iau.go.ke is unavailable. The complaint form below is the live official system.

Five ways to reach the Internal Affairs Unit

Use whichever is easiest for you. Every channel reaches the same team, and every one of them is free. You do not need a lawyer, a police abstract, or any money to make a complaint.

  • Send an SMS to

    40683

    The fastest option on any phone, smart or not. Standard SMS to this shortcode is free.

    Best if you have no internet

  • Dial the USSD code

    *683#

    A guided menu walks you through the complaint step by step. Works on every network.

    Best for a guided, offline report

  • Call the toll-free line

    0800 721 230

    Speak to a person. The line is toll-free from any Kenyan network — you are not charged.

    Best if you want to talk it through

  • Write to us at

    info@iau.go.ke

    Useful when you have documents, photographs or recordings to attach as evidence.

    Best when you have evidence to send

  • Walk in and see us

    KCB Towers

    Upper Hill, Nairobi. Come in person and speak to an investigator face to face.

    Best for serious or complex cases

  • Or file online, right here

    The official form

    The complete complaint system is embedded further down this page. It takes about five minutes.

    Best for a full, tracked complaint

The official complaint system

File or track your complaint

This is the National Police Service's live complaint platform, served directly from web.iau.go.ke. Choose File a Complaint to make a new report, or Track Status to check one you have already made using your tracking number.

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Your complaint is submitted straight to the Internal Affairs Unit. This page does not read, store or forward anything you type into the form.

What the form will ask you

Six short steps, about five minutes. Nothing here is a trick question, and you can stop and come back. Knowing what is coming makes it easier — and these are the same details we will ask for if you report by phone or in person.

  1. 1

    How you want to file

    Anonymously, or with your name. If you file anonymously, no identifying information about you is collected — you still get a tracking number.

  2. 2

    Your details

    Name, telephone, county and similar. Skipped entirely if you chose to stay anonymous.

  3. 3

    Who the complaint is for

    Whether you are reporting something that happened to you, or reporting on behalf of somebody else.

  4. 4

    What happened

    The incident in your own words — what was done, when and where. Write plainly; it does not need legal language.

  5. 5

    Station and officer

    Any detail you have about the station involved and the officer concerned. Partial information is fine — a description helps even without a name.

  6. 6

    Confirm and get your number

    Review everything, submit, and receive a tracking number. Keep it safe — it is how you check progress later under Track Status.

Start my complaint

Accountability in numbers

What the Unit handles

Police accountability only works if it is measured and published. These are the most recent figures available from the Unit's annual reporting.

  • 918 complaints handled in the latest reporting year
  • 576 taken forward for formal investigation or administrative action
  • 131 personnel deployed across the country
  • 47 counties reachable by USSD, SMS and the toll-free line

78% of complaints concerned Kenya Police Service officers, 17% the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and 5% the Administration Police. 85% came from members of the public and a further 112 were raised by serving officers about their own colleagues or supervisors — the clearest sign that the channel is trusted from the inside as well as the outside.

Source: Internal Affairs Unit annual reporting. Personnel figure from the IAU 2020 Annual Performance Report. Latest-year figures pending confirmation by the Unit.

Who we are

The Internal Affairs Unit is a unit within the National Police Service, established under section 87 of the National Police Service Act No. 11A of 2011 and operationalised on 15 July 2013. Its mandate is to receive and investigate complaints against police officers.

A complaint may be made at any hour, by any of the channels on this page, and may be made anonymously. Complaints are accepted from members of the public, from organisations, and from serving officers reporting misconduct by colleagues or supervisors.

Alongside its Nairobi headquarters at KCB Towers, the Unit operates regional offices — including Nyeri and Nakuru — and continues to extend its presence across the country.

Complaint-handling capacity developed with the support of

  • UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
  • TI‑Kenya Transparency International Kenya
  • NPS National Police Service of Kenya

The online reporting system (ARIS) was launched on 9 November 2018 with UNODC and TI‑Kenya support, bringing USSD, SMS and web reporting into a single case-tracking platform.

Questions people ask before reporting

Can I really report anonymously?

Yes. The first step of the form asks how you want to file. If you choose to file anonymously, no identifying information about you is collected. You are still given a tracking number so you can follow the case.

The trade-off is practical, not punitive: if we cannot contact you, we cannot come back with follow-up questions, which sometimes limits how far an investigation can go.

Does it cost anything?

No. Making a complaint is free. The toll-free line 0800 721 230 costs you nothing from any Kenyan network, and the SMS shortcode and USSD code are free to use. Nobody is ever authorised to ask you for payment to file or progress a complaint — if that happens, that is itself something to report.

What can I report?

Any misconduct by a police officer. The most common complaints received concern officers failing to act when required, harassment, bribery and intimidation. Others include unlawful detention, obstruction of justice, threats to life, assault, brutality and negligence on duty.

You can also send a compliment. Good policing is recorded too, and the Unit receives hundreds of commendations about officers each year.

Will the officer find out it was me?

Complaints are handled confidentially by the Unit, which sits outside the ordinary station command chain. If your concern about retaliation is serious, file anonymously — the option exists precisely for this situation.

I am a police officer. Can I use this?

Yes, and officers do. The form has a specific path for serving officers, including a field for your service number. In the latest reporting year, 112 complaints were raised by officers about colleagues or supervisors.

What happens after I file?

Your complaint is registered and assessed. Most are forwarded for further investigation or administrative action — 576 of them in the latest reporting year — while others are resolved directly at headquarters or a regional office.

How do I check on a complaint I already made?

Use the Track Status tab at the top of the complaint form on this page and enter the tracking number you were given. If you have lost the number, call 0800 721 230.

Is this the official IAU website?

This page is a deliberately lightweight companion to the Unit's main site at iau.go.ke, built to stay reachable when that site is not. The complaint form above is not a copy — it is the live official system, loaded directly from web.iau.go.ke.

You do not need proof, a lawyer, or a perfect account.

You only need to tell us what happened. Everything else is our job.

File a complaint now

No internet? SMS 40683 · Dial *683# · Call 0800 721 230