Training needed to boost policing: N’dranou

National
Police officers (standing with certificates) who went through the investigative interview training. – Nationalpic by LULU MARK

MORE training for police officers is needed to raise the standard of policing, National Capital District Met Supt Perou N’dranou says.
He said this during the closing of a five-day investigative interview training for 15 police officers in NCD last Friday.
Supt N’dranou said police personnel needed to receive training on a regular basis if the constabulary wanted to improve and become more professional, effective and productive.
The programme teaches investigative interviewing techniques and how to conduct interviews properly with witnesses and suspects. He said interviewing skills were one of the basic skills officers needed to have in order to gather information for criminal cases and other police-related work.
Supt N’dranou said one of the reasons police experienced difficulties investigating cases was because of a lack of evidence and being able to gather useful information through interviews and how to use information as key to solving cases.
He said regular training would keep officers abreast of interview procedure and technique and effective methods of extracting vital information to be used as evidence or to gather evidence. “Our officers’ job is not determining the guilt,” Supt N’dranou said.
“It’s about determining the truth and it is through the investigation and interviewing skills that you can have the assurance that the case you are (putting) your time, effort and resources on will get a conviction in court.”
He said he wanted all police personnel in NCD to undergo the training.
Supt N’dranou said it cost around K5,000 to complete a minor case but going through the prosecution record revealed that many cases were thrown out.