Retrained DPCs back at former work stations

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | At least 90 out of the 170 District and Division Police Commanders –DPC who completed a 3-months’ refresher course at Olilim Counter-Terrorism Training School last month have been redeployed at their former police stations.

In a bid to revamp police resilience towards fighting crime, the now-deceased Deputy Inspector General of Police- Lt Gen Paul Lokech, sent 170 DPCs for a refresher course. The decision came after a meeting with President Yoweri Museveni in which the head of state expressed concern with the conduct of police commanders in regard to the January elections, rampant corruption cases and land evictions.

It was reported that Museveni read the riot act before the DPCs warning to dismiss whoever was not willing to serve the interests of the country by security citizens, protecting their property and pro-active approach to criminal elements.

The issues highlighted during the meeting included lack of intelligence gathering techniques which saw some political groups successfully organize protests, failure to brief juniors on operation procedures which saw them shooting and injuring civilians during elections while other DPCs were accused of hobnobbing with groups evicting people.

After the Entebbe meeting, Lokech reportedly promised Museveni that he was going to ensure that all DPCs are retrained with emphasis on command, intelligence gathering, respect for human rights, addressing office misconduct and abuses.

The DPCs were sent on course in the last week of May and they passed out on September 3, by the police’s director for Human Resource Development Godfrey Golooba, who rallied the commanders to put the knowledge and skills acquired into practice in order to improve policing.

As all the DPCs thought they were returning to their respective stations, a message came out sending them for 14 days leave as police refined their redeployment plan. However, Uganda Radio Network –URN, understands that some of the DPCs have already received the message sending them back to their former stations while others are still waiting.

Police Spokesperson Fred Enanga said the redeployment for some of the DPCs was done internally and there was no need for it to be done through the media. A visit to some of the 18 divisions that make up the Kampala metropolitan area showed that 10 DPCs including Kampala Central Police Stations Ronald Wotwali, had already taken over their offices.

The new people who had been deployed as acting DPCs as their bosses endured retraining have now been posted as Officers Incharge –OC of stations. Earlier, Enanga told URN that redeployment of the DPCs would depend on each one’s performance during the reskilling program as well as their past records.

****

URN