Rwanda National Police (RNP) has started a countrywide training of all members of village executive committees and members of advisory councils at the cell and sector levels to introduce and equip them with community policing skills.
The training is embedded in the programme prepared by the Ministry of Local Government, which organized the training that also focuses on various government programmes and currently being conducted separately in districts.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Damas Gatare, commissioner for community policing explained that “RNP works closely with other public and private institutions and it has become a norm that when they organize a training or any event, they also invite police to give a presentation on policing programmes.”
“In this specific exercise, police, we are focusing on the role of villages in sustaining security. Some of these leaders are new in office and automatically became members of community policing committees (CPCs), so it’s paramount to bring them on board, speed up and introduce them to proactive policing and their role in preserving what has been achieved in terms of security” ACP Gatare said.
A village leader, the person in charge of security and three other people elected by the village advisory committee constitute a Community Policing Committee at the Village level.
So far, over 8000 local leaders from the districts of Nyagatare, Musanze, Gisagara, Nyarugenge, Gatsibo and Gicumbi, over the weekend benefited from the same community policing programme.
It will continue to other districts in the coming two weekends where the same local government programme will be conducted.
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