By: Nyima Sillah
National Assembly Member for Tallinding Kunjang Constituency, Musa Badgie, claimed that there is no vehicle across police stations within the Kanifing Municipal Council.
In an interview with The Voice, he stated that there is no “single” vehicle in any police station within Kanifing Municipal Council, asserting that the security sector lacks mobility, which should be a priority in every police station.
He pointed out that failure to have vehicles in police stations always results in delays in security officers reaching crime scenes on time.
“When we went on a tour in CRR North, we also realized that there was no vehicle in any police stations. The only vehicles available are the ones at the police headquarters in Banjul. If you pass the headquarters, most of the police stations don’t have a vehicle which is a contributing factor for them not to do a daily patrol, which is their area of responsibility,” he stressed.
The lawmaker emphasized that there are numerous police stations in the country but most of the stations are empty, and cannot respond to crimes on time due to lack of mobility and required resources. He added that suppose the Brusubi police had a vehicle, they could have reached the access bank crime scene on time or even apprehend the culprit.
Badgie, who is also a member of the Defence and Security Committee, suggested that the police should be armed it does not matter if they are on general duty or PIU or in the stations. “All of them should be trained on how to handle weapons. That’s the state we are in now. We are no longer in the colonial age or First Republic era we are advanced and we expect to see organized crimes taking place by cartels or individuals at any time.
“The only armed unit is the PIU, and the PIU cannot be everywhere because their population is not sufficient to handle all crimes in the country,” he opined as he emphasized the need for human capacity.
He reiterated that the security officers need vehicles, and the required resources to embark on constant patrol, asserting that if they don’t have this, they will not be able to do their work as expected.
