By Abubakarr Harding
The United States Embassy Strategic Capacity Group in Sierra Leone has on Wednesday 21st September, 2022, paid a courtesy visit to the Inspector General of Police, William Fayia Sellu at Police Headquarters, in Freetown.
The visit was geared towards ascertaining a first-hand assessment of elections specific management training for police personnel.
The team gave a synopsis of experiences acquired over the years in diverse disciplines, which are related to policing activities.
The team comprises: Amadou Berlfie -Project Coordinator, Deedee Rodriguez, Subject Matter Expert and Jean-Marc Barattola -Senior Police Adviser.
Jean-Marc shared his experience with IGP on Police Training and the roles he played in international peacekeeping missions in Darfur and Mali respectively.
Rodriguez on the other hand, intimated IGP Sellu that the group is looking at possible areas where they can come in to conduct training after completion of their training needs assessment; whilst Amadou Berlfie emphasized that the Police is key in the electioneering period i.e. before, during and after. And that proper training can assist the Police in the process.
The Deputy Director of Training, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Esther Kaintor-Dukuray, briefed the team on how the Police intend to provide security for the forth-coming general elections, for it to be free, fair, and conducted in a peaceful atmosphere.
She further urged the team to share their experiences with the Police in the form of training, so as to develop the capacity of Police Trainers.
The Deputy Director also hinted that personnel deployed in the regions also stand to benefit from the proposed training.
Responding, IGP Fayia Sellu thanked the team for the assessment visit, stating that he was expecting their visit, backed by experience sharing. He said he was delighted about the intended gesture from the team; given the fact that the Police have a whole lot of training needs.
He, however, appealed to the team to have further engagement with the Police after they would have concluded their assessment, so as to help identify dire areas of training needs within the SLP.
In view of her wealth of knowledge and experience in local and international training, the IGP nominated ACP Esther Kaintor-Dukuray to work with the team in conducting its assessment and eventual implementation of same.
