The Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Baba, on Wednesday, emphasised the importance of manpower development and training for policemen.
The IGP at a 3-day Capacity Building Workshop for police Spokespersons, held in Lagos, said training and retraining was important in all aspects of policing; either in administrative or operations capacities.
The workshop, themed: ‘Crime Scene Management and Conclusive Criminal Investigation, Role of Police Spokesperson’, was organised in partnership with the Nigerian-German Development Cooperation .
The IGP added that the workshop would be in two batches, with the first one holding in Lagos and the other in Abuja.
“This is for the purpose of positive intellectual impact and also in compliance with the COVID-19 prevention regulations.
“I am particularly excited about this workshop because it’s coming at a time, when the force is implementing a new Manpower Development Policy, amongst other things.
“It focuses on improving capacity of police personnel across all ranks, in line with new policing standards and best practices.
“It is timely and unique in many ways. One of these, is the contextual theme of the workshop, which seeks to develop robust forensic awareness and knowledge for our spokespersons.
“This in itself, flows from contemporary public relations practice which identifies police spokespersons across the world as one of the first responders to crime scenes,” he said.
The IGP added that the workshop would, in addition, help the police spokespersons in playing their roles of crime management, throughout the investigative processes.
He said the roles were germane to the pursuit of professional criminal investigations and the dispensation of justice to both the victims and defendants.
“This course also seeks to equip the participants with skills, necessary for effective descriptive, analytical and strategic communication, touching on criminal investigations and procedures.
“This in turn will enable them acquire relevant skills to give appropriate responses to citizens and media enquiries into matters of forensic and evidential nature, connected to ongoing criminal investigations.” he said.
The IGP further told participants that to succeed as police image makers, they must be versatile, with deep theoretical and practical knowledge of all aspects of policing.
He encouraged the participants to take advantage of opportunities the workshop presented, to interact and broaden their skills in responding to crime incidents and to fit in to the tasks of information management and public engagement.
