Twenty-six police officers from 10 African countries attending the fifth intake of the Police Senior Command and Staff Course graduated, yesterday, at the National Police College (NPC) in Musanze District.
Twenty-six police officers from 10 African countries attending the fifth intake of the Police Senior Command and Staff Course graduated, yesterday, at the National Police College (NPC) in Musanze District.
The graduates are from Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda and hosts Rwanda.
The one-year course covers professional executive leadership, strategic management and development, command, strategic policing skills in contemporary setting as well as a Master’s Degree in Peace and Conflict Transformation.
The graduation ceremony, presided over by Justice minister Johnston Busingye, coincided with the completion of two other courses; Police Tactical Command and Police Junior Command and Staff Course of 40 and 20 police officers, respectively.
The four-month intensive tactical command course is designed to enrich the officers’ operational skills at tactical level.
Minister Busingye said such courses are a clear testimony of the commitment of Rwanda National Police to build the personnel capacity of all levels of its command structure in order to fulfil its mandate.
He said the rule of law, law and order and development are closely interlinked and that well trained, professional and disciplined law enforcement institutions, delivering according to international and constitutional principles of human rights in compliance with the law, sustainably underlie development.
"Effective response to complexities of the contemporary policing environment associated with globalisation, use of sophisticated technology in the commission of crime, transnational organised crimes and other global realities require regional and international cooperation, sharing experience and harmonisation of training, ” Busingye said.
He underscored that in the rapidly changing world, people also need to participate in policing and "entitled to expect and receive accountability from the institutions on how they are served, and to take this relationship for granted.”
Rwanda’s tragic history and Africa’s law enforcement challenges in general, the minister said, define the importance of pools of officers who combine strategic command dimension with full understanding of national, regional and global peace and security dynamics.
Busingye urged the participants to maximise the knowledge attained and be catalysts of law enforcement for the wellbeing of the people in their respective countries and Africa in general.
He pledged Government’s commitment to support RNP’s capacity building efforts, adding that the ongoing police restructuring is being "carefully implemented to place our law enforcement institutions ahead of current and future service expectations.”
The Commandant of NPC, Felix Namuhoranye, said the Police senior, junior and tactical courses were introduced to ensure a comprehensive approach to human resource development by combining professional and academic aspects.
The training packages, he added, are customised in line with the changing nature of the security landscape.
"The ultimate goal is to prepare officers to effectively operate within a policing environment that is becoming increasingly sophisticated and challenging not only because of the complexities in post-conflict situations but also because of the paradigm shift in crime trends that are transnational in nature,” Namuhoranye said.
The joint events were also attended by the Inspector General of Police, Emmanuel K. Gasana; State Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Evode Uwizeyimana; and family members and friends.
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