French National Police to Gambia Police Intervention Unit, on public order tactical applications, as part of tiny West African nation security sector reform, a statement received by The Voice said on Saturday.
The two weeks training is targeting about 40 Gambian Police Intervention Unit (PIU) officers of The Gambia Police Force to train on Public Order Tactical Applications in Kanifing from the 10th to the 21st June, 2019.
According to the statement, this is the first training to be undertaken by the French-Gambia Cooperation towards applying the principles of good governance to security provision, management and supervision in a democratic context.
The statement added that principles for security sector governance include effectiveness, efficiency, accountability, transparency, responsiveness and the rule of law.
“As part of a more comprehensive Security Sector Reform program, the two-weeks training will be conducted by French law enforcement experts coming from operational units in France to benefit 40 PIU officers including Platoon and Section Commanders. It shall include modules on discerning critical operational situations, analyzing the environment and giving proper orders to troops,” the statement made available to The Voice outline.
Given the fact that the operating staff in a unit perform according to the orders they receive from their chiefs/platoon heads, it was important that the first step of a long lasting French training program starts with effective exercise of operational command.
The statement revealed that the first week of the training focuses on the acquisition and the validation of the basics in order to perform the elementary maneuvers, movements and tactics, while the second week will focus more on operational reasoning and command.
“The training is very important for PIU officers, noting that the laws of The Gambia forbid the security excessive use force.
The police world over are prepared to tackle all kind of challenges but the most important of all is how to respond in terms of riot.
The two weeks training will therefore, augment the skills of the PIU officers of The Gambia Police Force in an on-going process of cooperation between the French National Police and The Gambian Police Force;” the statement said.
The statement also noted that support by the French government to the Gambian Police Force will continue extensively, adding in the near future there will o be programs that are dependent on the security sector reform needs of the Force.