Mogadishu – Twenty-six senior officers from the Somali Police Force (SPF), have concluded a ten-day intensive training on police station management to enhance their knowledge and skills to tackle crime and help improve the security situation in Somalia.
The training held at the General Kahiye Police Academy in Mogadishu, entailed theoretical and practical sessions, and was conducted by facilitators from the police component of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) and SPF.
The officers, among them station commanders and their deputies from various police stations in Mogadishu, were taken through various aspects of policing including, the code of conduct, police accountability and oversight, responsibilities of officer commanding police station, child protection and effectiveness of community policing in protecting civilians in armed conflict.
The training also covered an introduction to the Somali Penal Code, introduction to criminal procedure code, criminal investigation techniques, arrest, detention, search, and seizure among other key topics.
“I hope you will share the knowledge and skills acquired from this training with other officers in your respective stations in key departments like criminal Investigation, station administrators and operations,” Somalia Deputy Police Commissioner Brig. Gen. Osman Mohamed Abdullahi ‘Kaniif’ told the officers at a ceremony to mark the end of the training.
“As leaders, you are required to mentor officers at your stations and that is the only way we will be able to better serve the public, improve security and our work in general,” added Gen. ‘Kaniif’.
ATMIS Deputy Police Commissioner (CP) Martin Amoru said the police commanders were at the heart of the safety of communities and the ongoing stabilisation efforts in Somalia.
“The success of an organization including the police station depends on its management,” said CP Amoru adding that, “As a station commander, you have to build trust, you should be trusted by the officers who work under you, you should also be trusted by the officers who supervise you and you should be trusted by the community.”
Under the ATMIS mandate, the police component is tasked to support the SPF by providing specialised training, advice and mentorship through joint patrols and protection of vital installations in line with the Somali Transition Plan.
The capacity building efforts will enable the Somali security forces to take over full security responsibility of their country when ATMIS exits Somalia in December 2024.
“ As you know soon the Somali forces will be taking over from ATMIS in many areas. You are the officers who will be at the heart of the take over and who will be required to work and so it is important for your skills and capacity to be improved,” said Maj. Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed, the SPF Director of Planning and Training Directorate.
Lt. Osman Mohamed Nur, the Waberi District Police Commander thanked ATMIS police for the training saying the participants had acquired vital knowledge on policing which will enable them to effectively discharge their duties.
“We learnt a lot from the training like how to manage police stations, station command structure, criminal investigation, operations and many other important topics and we gained a lot of knowledge and skills. We hope to take back with us lessons learnt and to put them into practice,” he said.
ATMIS Police Reform and Restructuring Development Coordinator, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) John Simon; other senior ATMIS police and SPF officers also attended the ceremony.