Police urged to be professional during riots
Police in the country have been urged to be professional during riots to earn people’s trust as reliable public security service providers.
Senior assistant commissioner of police Theresa Nankhuni made the remarks on Thursday during the opening of a two-day Public Order and Disorder Management Training for Kasungu Police officers.
Nankhuni, who is also a commandant at the Central Region Police Training Centre, said time has come for the Malawi Police Service to demonstrate outstanding skills during public disorder without costing innocent lives.
“After being saddened with all bad past experiences, we thought it wise to equip our police officers with new skills so that such scenarios such as the July 20 2011 incident should be a thing of the past,” he said.
According to the United Nations (UN) standards of security management, police officers in the country need to be trained in modern methods of conflict management, risk control and international requirements on the usage of firearms.
Nankhuni assured Malawians that police would discharge their duties professionally.
Police perform a difficult but necessary task of enforcing law and order. However, no self respecting proud Malawian Police must under any circumstances find it necessary to kill demonstrating citizens. Live ammunitions must be banned at demos. However, as a country we must safeguard and protect the security of those police men and women who themselves risk their lives day in day out. I suggest the following:
1. Treble the number of police in the country, there is safety in numbers for our esteemed police.
2. Supply them with appropriate modern riot gear(not guns) to protect themselves as well equipment for crowd dispersion such as water vans and smoke canisters etc.
3. Better pay for police so they are not tempted by corruption.
4. Advanced training for the police in all aspects of investigations including forensic.
5. Serious punishment for anyone who abuses or injures police.
Is that too much to ask?