By Adama Makasuba
At least 40 officers from the Gambia Police Force have been trained on public order management by the French Police.
The officers were trained on measures to counter and manage protesters by two French police instructors for two weeks.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony, Deputy Inspector General Police, Abdoulie Sanyang assured the commitment of the police to protecting people and their properties in the country.
“We will want to assure the general public that we will neither relent nor give up on our responsibility to protect the people of this beloved country,” he assured.
He said as part of the Police top priority is to build the capacity of its personnel saying they need to be accountable to the public.
He described the two weeks training as ‘a culmination of a bilateral engagement between the government of the Gambia and the French to enhance the capacity of our police force.’
“Our mission is to maintain rule of law by public consent using politically accepted method with due regard to human right. Therefore, in order to effectively do this the personnel must be well equipped well trained,” he added.
According to him, the training is in line with the security service delivery of the Gambia that ‘aims to enhance the service delivery of the security forces and services for safe and secure Gambia.’
He reminded the officers trained on public order management to ‘share knowledge gained in the training with their colleagues.’
He described practical training for the police personnel as ‘paramount’ adding that ‘because public expression of this kind are becoming more and more common and all nations must the ability to quickly and efficiently put down such disorder manage.”