Baidoa, – At least 15 police officers from the South West State Police Force, have concluded a three-week course, on serious crimes investigation, in Baidoa, the South West State’s administrative capital.
The officers who were selected from different police stations in the Bay region underwent intensive training on effective protection and response to crime scenes. The training covered crime scene management and crime investigations.
“It was an important workshop, held in two parts of ten days each. The first part covered crime scene management, while the second part was about serious crimes investigation,” Col. Abdullahi Ibrahim Aden, the Head of the South West State Police CID Department said on Tuesday, at the end of the course, adding that the trainees had gained invaluable knowledge from the training.
Shukri Mohamud Wardheere, one of the trainees concurred with the Col. Abdullahi. She said, “We have learnt how to protect crime scenes during this training. Firstly, the crime scene has to be cordoned. Secondly, you need to ensure your safety; and thirdly identify dangerous situations at the scene such as explosives or people injured; and after that you can try to assist anyone who needs emergency help. Lastly, examine the suspects behind the crime”.
The AMISOM Police Coordinator for the South West State, Tresphord Kasale, noted that the training whose aim was to build investigative skills of the police officers had been effective in demonstrating aspects of crime scenes management and investigations.
“The importance of this course is to empower our SPF officers to be able to investigate all serious crimes which are brought forward to them,” Kasale emphasized.
Mr. Abdirazak Abdi Aden, the South West Administration’s Deputy Minister of Security expressed satisfaction with the skills acquired by the officers, and appealed to AMISOM to continue building the capacity of the institution’s criminal investigations department.
“AMISOM police trained our CID officers on how to investigate serious crimes. The training has come to an end and we thank AMISOM and hope that they will give us other trainings that will help boost the skills of the CID department,” said the minister.
As part of its mandate, AMISOM recruits, trains, and mentors the Somali Police Force, to raise the policing standards in the country and to adequately skill them to be able to take up the responsibility of restoring law and order across Somalia.