By James Innocent
Over 25 police officers in Yei River County, Central Equatoria State, are receiving a 3-day community policing training.
The training is being supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Brigadier Saleh Selim, the National Director for Community Policing said community policing is a way to bring the community together, ensuring everyone’s freedom and ability to work without fear, which is the mandate of the South Sudan National Police.
Selim stated that community policing is a professionally designed system that meets the needs and expectations of the South Sudanese people.
It operates within the framework of national standard laws and values, acknowledges and works with traditional authorities and customary laws, and partners with local communities and other agencies.
“Community policing is very important for the police and civil population so that they coexist among themselves, so the police can be able to mitigate criminal activities in the community and it will be very simple for police to solve the problems easily so that criminals are well Disciplined,” he said.
First Lieutenant Diana Jackson, a community policing officer, noted that it has been a while since she arrived in Yei.
She emphasized that civilians and police are supposed to be very close to each other to control criminal activities, as the police uniform is for easy identification.
Brigadier General, the Inspector of Police for Yei River County, applauded the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for organizing the 3-day community policing training.
James Wani Banja, the Peacebuilding Director for Yei River County, representing the County Commissioner Aggrey Cyrus Kanyikwa, mentioned that the training is good, but they need to engage more stakeholders, especially community leaders, so they can understand the community policing training and share ideas with the police.
This is because many cases are taken to the Joint Operations, commonly known as the Military office.