ReliefWeb

RUTI DANIEL KAYONGA/FILIP ANDERSSON

Lieutenant Colonel Kuong Majoc, commander of the crime response team at the Buluk police division in Juba, is very familiar with the challenges involved in tracing criminals and responding to emergencies in the capital. He believes that the building handed over to his unit by UN police officers to serve as a data a crime analysis centre will greatly facilitate these core tasks.

“We have not had a systematic way of registering, reporting and analyzing the information we collect to assist our colleagues at our emergency call centre. Just reporting our findings on the phone or by using radios has made it difficult to engage in proactive policing,” said Kuong Majoc, lamenting the previous lack of a proper information management system at the police station.

The Lieutenant Colonel made his comments at a ceremony where the new building, financed as a Quick Impact Project by the peacekeeping mission and constructed by the non-governmental organization Participatory Humanitarian Action for Resilience and Recovery, was officially handed over to the South Sudan National Police Service.

“We will use this facility to map and aggregate common crimes, find the links between them and identify the anomalies we come across. Doing this will enhance our capacity to decide what kind of response that is required,” the Lieutenant Colonel explained.

The construction of the new building is part of a longer-term plan.

”This project is part of our (UNMISS) support to the South Sudan National Police Service and the Ministry of Interior’s efforts to strengthen the rule of law infrastructure and improve the operational capacity of its security personnel,” said Geetha Pious, head of the peacekeeping mission’s field office in Juba.

Lieutenant General James Pieu, Assistant Inspector General of the South Sudanese police force, pointed out that the capacity building of police officers must reflect changes in society in general and technological advances in particular.

“Law enforcement officers should be equipped with technological skills to able to prevent the growing problem of crimes committed on the internet. We need to stay one step ahead of criminals when it comes to knowledge of these technologies” he says.

To achieve their task, UN police officers have given their South Sudanese counterparts adequate training. They also planned, monitored and supervised the construction of the new facilities.

Reiterating the peacekeeping mission’s commitment to supporting South Sudan’s police service, UNPOL Police Commissioner Unaisi Bolatolu-Vuniwaqa elaborated further on how the new crime data analysis facility will benefit law enforcement in the country.

”It will assist our colleagues in building a credible database on crimes committed across the country, which will guide the establishment of appropriate strategies and measures to prevent and reduce unlawful actions,” she said, adding that this systematic approach will provide police with descriptions of suspected criminals and help identify possible patterns in the methods used by perpetrators.