Regional police conduct joint exercise

New Vision
Saturday, May 04, 2013

advertisements

Police from 12 countries in the GreatLakes region will be conduct a joint field exercise aimed at honing regional ability to respond to and counter terrorism.

Organized under the auspices of the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (EAPCCO), the simulation exercise will be held at Namboole starting today and will run till Monday.

About 200 officers, a bulk of them from Uganda, the host nation will take part in the exercise aimed to among other create awareness of the different threats and ready police officers to deal with acts of terror.

The EAPCCO member states are Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

Speaking at a press conference the director Interpol Asan Kasingye said the threat of terror was still real in the region, thus the need for preparedness.

“Interpol and EAPCCO is well aware of the grave risks posed when the police services of their member states are not designed, or ill-equipped for international cooperation in the fight against international terrorism,” Kasingye said at the police headquarters.

The exercise will also present an opportunity to test the existing legal frame work in dealing with terrorism, test and enhance regional ownership of the proposed standard operating procedure due to be adopted by the member states in the next annual general assembly of EAPCCO and improve cooperation among member states.

The exercise will be preceded by the meeting of two crucial committees of EAPCCO–the Permanent Coordinating Committee (PCC) which brings together all the criminal Investigations department (CID) bosses from the 12 member states and the legal sub committees.

“They will deliberate on the issues of cyber crime, terrorism and other high tech crimes, given the transnational nature of crime,” Kasingye said to be followed by the meeting of police chiefs and that of the Council of Ministers on May 6 and 7, respectively.

Home
Email

Hiiraan Online