Calls For Regular Retraining Programmes For Police Personnel

The Police has been described as a critical stakeholder in the Administration of Criminal Justice. The Chairman, Technical Committee of Anambra State Justice Sector Reform Team, Justice Peter Obiorah, stated this when his team paid a courtesy visit to the new Commissioner of Police in the State, CP Tony Olofu, in his office at Amawbia. Queen Anigbogu reports that Justice Obiorah disclosed that the visit was to seek the Police Commissioner’s interventions in areas such as the Police Act, dealing with abuse in getting confessional statements from the accused, prompt charging of suspect to court and act of settling issue of sexual offenses in the Police stations, instead of allowing the law to run its full course on offenders. He said that when the law is allowed to run its full course on sexual offenders, the society will be safer, calling for periodic in-house trainings for Police officer to enhance their knowledge of the law. A representative of the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Programme, RULAC, Mrs Josephine Onah, while highlighting how they have been collaborating with the Justice Sector Reform Team, stressed the need to organize trainings for Police officers for optimal productivity. Responding, CP Olofu, said there is no alternative to a decent society, and promised to look into all the issues raised, while condemning in a very strong terms, sexual violence against women and girls. He vowed that under his watch in Anambra Command, sexual offenses at any level will be treated with the strictness they require.