29 Commissioners and senior Police officers on Friday graduated with a Masters of Arts in Peace Studies and Conflict Transformation from the University of Rwanda. During their course, the officers acquired skills directed towards building a modern and professional police force. They ranged from Peace Studies and Conflict Transformation and Strategic Command offered by National Police College. The courses are designed explicitly as a leadership programmes with an aim of upgrading policing to the highest standards and placing participants into demanding roles where they can develop as leaders and strategists. Among the granduates was Commissioner of Police, Cyprian Gatete, the Police Reserve Force Commander, who pointed out that Rwanda National Police had prioritized educating and professionalizing its officers with a focus of having all its servicemen and women equipped with advanced and contemporary policing skills. Africa is bound to benefit a lot from the skills that Rwanda National Police is gaining; we are engaged in training many police officers across the continent - that way, we can network, form synergies and collectively use modern means to fight crimes, Gatete said. Early last month, the National Police College graduated 30 senior police officers from eight African countries after pursuing a similar course. In line with applying the knowledge acquired by the officers, Gatete added that today RNP was positioned among the best and well performing police peacekeeping forces globally due to the knowledge and skills acquired by its officers. When it comes to the conflict areas where peacekeeping operations are required, we can be able to use the knowledge we have acquired to prevent, minimize and contain them anywhere, he said. The officers are the second intake of MA in Peace Studies and Conflict Transformation pursued by Commissioners and senior Police officers. The spirit behind equipping senior officers with advanced education is to ensure that knowledge is distributed effectively within the force since RNP policing systems are decentralized. With the new skills, Rwanda National Police has built a reputation of being community-friendly through redressing grievances and restoring law and order among people in the rural and urban areas of the country.
