By Hassan I Conteh
Police authorities have revealed that last year the Sierra Leone Police (SLP), through its Complaint Discipline and Internal Investigations Department (CDIID), documented a total of 1, 118 cases nationwide, among them sexual harassment and discrimination.
On Tuesday they called members of the press at their headquarters on George Street in Freetown to promise that several complaint panels would therefore be created in all the divisions to specifically investigate allege cases of discrimination and sexual harassment in police stations.
Figures provided by the police during the presser did not specify the number of sexual and gender-based violence cases.
Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Mrs. Elizabeth Turay, Director of Gender Affairs at SLP, said announced a three-year plan to ensure a gender mainstreamed force, a move to address issues like sexual and gender based violence and gender equality within the force. The plan was designed to ensure gender mainstreaming within all police divisions across the country.
She said a special unit was going to be set up within the police complaint division to investigate reports of sexual abuse and other related issues, adding that the CDIID was the internal investigating arm of the police.
AIG Turay said although its mandate would include addressing sexual abuse cases, the department wasn’t equipped enough to do it, partly because there were no gender-specific trained officers.
“They’ve the investigative capability but when we talk about sexual abuse we need certain officers to have specific skills,” she said.
“Special gender officers” will be trained on how to address issues of discrimination and gender abuse at police posts, in addition to the work of the Family Support Unit which focuses on related issues with regards the general population.
“We want our men and women to have gender knowledge right from the training school and even from the recruitment… to be gender sensitive. By the time they’ll have completed the training; they will have got some high level of awareness” she said.
The Directorate of Gender Affairs at the SLP has been conducting awareness raising campaigns across the country, targeting police stations. The campaigns, said AIG Turay, were aimed at raising awareness on gender issues and equal service delivery within the force.
The SLP will also have to work on motivating its members, especially female officers, to be willing to serve in remote parts of the country.
AIG Turay said in the course of the sensitization tour, they found out that some police posts had been closed down because there were no female officers.
“The political and leadership will is there but we really need to go out and talk to our women to take up the challenge; most times we just decide to keep back rather than confronting those challenges,” she said.
The SLP gender directorate says it has developed an annual gender auditing policy to access it level of responsiveness towards gender issues.
The police inspectorate would also be using the new document as a checklist to access the Local Unit Commanders and other officers on their performance and activities regarding gender issues. There would also be a gender training manual for new recruits.
(C) Politico 14/01/16
