By: Saidu Jalloh
On the 11th November, 2023 over 1,000, 000 police officers were recruited in to the Sierra Leone Police force of which four of the awards were all won by women for the first time in history of recruiting Police Officers in Sierra Leone.
The awards won by women in the ceremony have shown the strong commitment His Excellency the President, Rtd Brigadier Julius Maada Bio has made to empower women. The occasion was graced by the Honourable Vice President, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, Speaker of Parliament, Dr. Abass Bundu.
It was a colourful event mixed with passion and emotion.
The Inspector General of the Sierra Leone, Fayai Sellu used the opportunity to welcome the Honourable Vice Presidentof the Republic of Sierra Leone Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Members of Parliament, Diplomatic and Consular Core, development partners and other government ministers.
William Fayai Sellu expressed that there were 1,100 recruits: 803 male and 297 females and he also mentioned that the Basic Recruitment for those graduates also lasted for seven months. He reported to the Voce President that the recruitment training of police was hybrid training for operational support and regular duties. He also said that the decision to have such training was predicated on the need to build the capacity of the police, so as to better position them to meet emerging challenges.
He also highlighted the categories of training in these graduates were put into in which he said are two: General duty Policing and Operational support Policing. The Inspector General of Police also noted that the current and emerging crime trends required the police to better trained and equipped to counter and address the the challenges associated with securing the communities.
He further explained that it was for that reason the management directs the training Directorate to undertake regular training, new assessment, so as to be able to identify training gaps within the police and then develop training curricular to address these gaps.
He also stated that, those recruit passing – out on Saturday has been better trained and prepared to stand the test of time and also face the demand of policing the state and the citizens of Sierra Leone. He admonished that the police are like any other human being, they are not infallible. “It is for this reason that we have preemptively put in place the necessary safeguards and internal control mechanism meant to checkmate and control any excess of our police officers,” IG Fayai Sellu affirmed.
He also congratulated the new recruits and reminded them that they had chosen to become members of an institution that is mandated to fight crime and fear of crime in society, and institution that has cyber capabilities to fight local and trans organizational organized crimes, an institution that is anchored in West Africa Police Information System ( WAPIS) platform which is linked to other West Africa Law enforcement agencies in the fight against terrorism, organized crimes, money laundering and kidnapping.
The Honourable Vice President of the Republic of Sierra Leone Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh also made a statement at the occasion in which he first congratulated the newly recruited Police Officers and welcomed them to the Police Force in which he said is an institution that has gotten a lot of expectations. The Vice President, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh also assured the Inspector General of Sierra Leone Police and entire Police Council that government would continue to support more recruitment training for the Sierra Leone Police. He additionally told the newly recruited Police Officers they are entering the Sierra Leone Police at a very challenging time in the history of Sierra Leone and West Africa sub region at a time when Sierra Leoneans and West Africans citizens have high expectations from the police and also advised them to meet their responsibilities to maintain law and order and also importantly to protect the territorial integrity of Sierra Leone.
He also emphasized on women’s participation in national service and congratulated the four women that had won the Best Recruit Awards. He also mentioned that President Bio had made a commitment to empower women by passing a legislature on Women Empowerment Act which he said had given 70% chances to women to participate in all walks of life.
He reiterated the Inspector General of Police statement that couples of years ago they had progressive increased the man power of Sierra Leone force and they would continue to do so in subsequent years to come.
The occasion was climaxed by parade of the newly recruited Police Officers and jubilations of the family of the newly recruited Police Officers.