Police Begins Redeployment in Counties
Forum
Monrovia, Liberia
Distributed by
The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
Among the officers are 95 commanders who will lead their men to ensure that the rule of law is restored to the rural parts of the country.
Speaking in Monrovia recently during the official ceremony to mark the
occasions, UN Special Representative Jacques Paul Klein, said the officers
are a vital link in the reestablishment of what he referred to as “police
primacy” throughout the country, something he noted would lead to
the “creation of a safe and secure environment.”
He called on the officers to embrace the community policing strategy that
was launched in recent time by the LNP in Monrovia.
Amb. Klein also urged the men and women of the police going in the leeward counties to work in partnership with their communities by solving problems together to improve not only security environment within their localities but do their best to improve the quality of live of those whom they serve.
For his part, the NTGL Chairman Charles Gyude Bryant who served as a keynote speaker, observed that one of the factors behind the civil war in Liberia has been the lack of respect for the people by security personnel and expressed the hope that the officers will respect the civil liberties of the citizens as well as protect their rights.
He told them to avoid suppressing the rights of the people, saying, “If this is not done, you will make yourselves to be the oppressors of the Liberian people.”
Also speaking was UNMIL/CIVPOL Police Commissioner Mark Kroeker, who called on donors to support the initiative and stressed the need for the provision of basic financial resources and other logistics to facilitate the establishment of what he called “solid base for policing in Liberia.”
In the same token, the Acting Police Director, Col. Joseph Kerkula, said the first phase of the deployment exercise will end by 19 December this year. He disclosed that they will be supplemented with probationary police officers who are presently undergoing basic training.
The Acting Police Director also used the occasion to announce that the 50 motor cycles donated by the Chinese Government for the use of police were released.
