2015-02-13Staff Report 2 By Obrein Simasiku WINDHOEK - Twenty-six police officers and various neighbourhood watches are receiving training in community policing and how to deal with gender-based violence (GBV). The course covers areas such as the nature of gender-based violence and its impact on victims, why gender-based violence is a police responsibility and how to address the needs of victims including where to go for support and advice, how to respond effectively to allegations of abuse, investigative interviewing, the allocation of resources and case preparation. Commissioner Hilma Tweya from the Gender and Welfare Department and Marianne Young, the High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Namibia, opened the course at the Patrick Iyambo Police College in Windhoek. The training that started on Monday and is scheduled to end today is funded by the British High Commission through its Foreign Commonwealth Office. The training is conducted by two British experts Sally Crown and Neville Blackwood from the College of Policing, Bramshill. Young said the British have been assisting and funding community-policing projects in Namibia since 2011 after a pilot study was done, adding that in 2013 crime figures in the areas of operation had dropped by 30 percent since the introduction of community policing practices. In April last year the high commission availed N$243 700 to support the rollout campaign of community policing in the country and assisted with production of information and training materials for communities nationwide, including awareness-raising billboards. 2015-02-13Staff Report 2
