BY Prince J MUSA IN Kenema
The Office of National Security (ONS) has held a one-day training on its new security strategy.
Beneficiaries of the training held in Kenema on Tuesday were drawn from the military, the correctional service, police and other security apparatus.
Director of Research and Assessment at ONS, Solomon Caulker, said the training was a follow up on recommendations they reached during an earlier retreat. Those recommendations included training security personnel across different regions on the latest security strategies that had been adopted at the top level of the national security hierarchy.
“This policy and strategic review plan is to enable the security forces to know how to go by the policies in executing their operations within the confines of the state security organogram,” Caulker explained.
The training focused on the use of different protocols like Military Aid to Civil Authority, Military Aid to Civil Power, among others. It specifically focused on standard response guidelines, which is the national security architecture.
The training was expected to prepare the security sector to deal with emergencies. It comes as Sierra Leone braces up for the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.
This week President Julius Maada Bio ordered the deployment of the military to lead this effort.
Major Albert Kamanda, the head of the Second Infantry battalion in Kenema, said the session couldn’t have come at a better time.
“It will help us to put on our guards in performing our official duties as a security [agency] in the area of operation. As part of safeguarding lives and properties, we now know the roles of the army in terms of emergency responses in the country,” he said.
With reference to their preparation for the Coronavirus, Kamanda said: “We have alerted our security personnel on the border crossing points for night and day patrolling.”
He added that they would work with the Police to strengthen their response on the border.
Kenema shares a border with Liberia, which has already registered two cases of the Coronavirus.
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