The eighth National Central Bureau (NCB) meeting that precedes other series of meetings of East African Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (EAPPCO) subcommittee, Police chiefs meeting and the council of ministers is scheduled to take place in the course of six days has opened.
The subcommittees include; legal, training, gender and CID committees.
In his remarks at the opening ceremony, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Christopher Bizimungu, the Commissioner of Criminal Investigation Department at Rwanda National police commended the importance of EAPCCO since its creation.
“These meetings are so crucial because none of our countries on its own is capable of dealing with challenges of transnational organized crimes including terrorism that we are facing today,” said Bizimungu.
“Through working together we have been able to provide security to our countries and the region has contributed to world security through international police cooperation as members of INTERPOL,” he added.
Elizabeth Kutesa, the Assistant Director for Africa INTERPOL General Secretariat applauded the National Central Bureaus (NCB) in the police services and also said that there should be strong measures to deliver better results.
She added; “I strongly believe that together we can make the NCB provide our police forces with tools that make policing within and beyond national boarders a lot easier.”
NCB annual meetings have been conducted since establishment of EAPCCO twelve years ago, to deal with challenges posed by organized crimes including terrorism, a real threat of modern times.
The meeting will emphasize collective efforts in the fight against transnational crimes which is the spirit behind the creation of EAPCCO.
The Meeting seeks to tackle challenges including; improving communication especially extending the I-24/7 to frontline officers at borders, and issues discussed at the meeting will be forwarded to the council of Ministers and Police chiefs for consideration.
The eleven countries that were clustered in the EAPCCO since its formation in 1998 still remain its present members and include; Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eretria, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
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