N/East: Police officers undergo post insurgency security training

From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

At least 30 Police officers and men from the Department of Public Relations from the six states command of north- east have been trained on policing the society in the post insurgency era.
The Chairman CORART Ventures Limited, a consultancy firm and organisers of workshop explained that, the workshop was aimed at preparing the police officers for challenges after the fight against insurgency was won in the region.
He said about 30 officers working under police public relations departments and human right desks from the six north eastern states participated in the training.
Stanley stated this at the opening ceremony of a two day training workshop organized by CORART Ventures Limited for officers and men of police public relations and human rights departments drawn from the north eastern part of the country with the theme ‘Policing in a post insurgency era’ held at Larema Hotel yesterday in Bauchi.
In his paper presentation titled’ Effective Communication Practices as a prerequisite for Successful Policing’,
the chairman of the Bauchi State Correspondents’ chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists [NUJ] Mr Segun Awofadeji urged Police Public Relations officers [PPROS] working under various police headquarters, divisions and stations in the nation have been advised to imbibe good human relation qualities and allow members of the public to provide information to them under confidentiality and protection that could help in the control of crime and to also make good use of the media in order to keep people abreast with police activities.
Awofadeji who said police spokespersons have pivotal roles to play in re-branding of the Nigerian police and restoring people’s confidence on the force urged police image makers to make good utilization of both print and electronic media to disseminate information on their activities, operations and warnings of potential crimes on regular basis to the public.
‘’ Rebuilding trust and confidence in the police will be difficult because of the department’s secrecy. Providing information to and seeking information from the public on matters of terrorism requires an especially thoughtful approach. Keeping the public informed and finding ways to engage them is one premise of the CTU campaign that encourages the community and front line employees to report suspicious behavior, activities and circumstances, ‘ he said.
He recommended that aside from the issuance of press releases, organizing news conferences which were common, the police should write regular columns for newspaper publication