WINDHOEK – The United Kingdom (UK) has funded a five-day community policing course for 26 police officers and neighbourhood watches to the tune of N$180 000.
The training that ended last Friday and took place at Patrick Iyambo College was conducted by two British experts, Sally Crown and Neville Blackwood, from the College of Policing, Bramshill, UK.
At the closing, British High Commissioner Marianne Young said the UK supports the key area of community policing as it aligns with her country’s key human rights priorities such as promoting women’s rights.
She emphasised that throughout 2014, British Prime Minister David Cameron called for special action towards ending violence and discrimination against women and girls.
“President Hifikepunye Pohamba has as well expressed his sentiments towards gender-based violence and launched a strong mission to curb the high local levels of GBV,” said Young.
She said it was for that reason that the British High Commission and Nampol responded to the calls made by the two governments and thus merged to fight against GBV and integrate community policing and neighbourhood watches at the grassroots level in all corners of Namibia.
Young added: “None of this would have been possible without the vision and strong leadership of Nampol’s Inspector General Sebastian Ndeitunga whose energetic championing in this area was recognised by winning the UK Police Agency’s International Leadership Award in 2012.”
The course covered 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.
She concluded: “With the course you have finished today, we have supported the Namibian Police Force with its introduction of community policing techniques nationwide together with the provision of specialist gender-based violence response training.”