The Inspector General of Police, Seedy Touray has spelt out his vision for the police force.
He told reporters that his strategic vision for the Gambia Police Force is “To be a professional, accountable public service, respecting human rights and the rule of law.”
Speaking at his maiden press conference on Friday, 90 days after he had assumed office, he outlined the achievements, challenges, and the way forward for the police.
The IGP outlined the following as the way forward to realise his strategic vision. He stated that his “administration is working with government and international partners to enhance the GPF’s forensic capabilities”, adding, “I won’t give specific details on this now but discussions are ongoing for specialized training for officers and procurements have been initiated to get tools for the forensic unit of GPF.”
In a few weeks also, some 20x motor vehicles will be distributed to major police stations to ameliorate their mobility challenges.
In a fortnight, the first-ever Police Integrated Information Management System will go live.
Components of the PIIMS include admin and Records Management; Police Mobile App; Police Field and Operations Reporting System; and Incident, Records, and Case Management System.
With support from the EU and the German Federal Foreign Office, he said they will construct six (6)additional model police stations in Brikama, Farafenni, Sami Karantaba, Basse, and Makamasireh in 2025.
“As we speak, the construction of another model police station funded by the UNDP is 60 percent done. If all goes according to plan, we will inaugurate this station in October or November 2024,” he said.
The above-mentioned plans will boost GPF’s posture for crime prevention and capacity to enforce the relevant laws following democratic policing standards.
The IGP believes that the aforementioned plans and actions will address the following challenges they are now facing: capacity gaps in areas like forensics and DNA evidence to minimize human error and biases during criminal investigations and eventual prosecutions, lack of adequate mobility for operations resulting in lack of timely response to public calls for police assistance, digitalization of workflow and records management to enhance efficiency and efficacy, insufficient uniforms to all officers, needing more model police stations and barracks for PIU and ACU personnel.
However, he has yet to give a definite answer to the issue of insufficient uniforms, but promised to engage in negotiation.
The IGP also dealt with current issues like discipline, staff welfare, hate speech, land disputes, drug abuse, and peddling. See the next edition for a report on this.
