The head of police operations, policy and planning, Chief Superintendent Mustapha Kambeh has said in a security briefing with journalists in Freetown that they will start deploying throughout the country on 13 November ahead of voting day on 17 November.
He said the entire police force numbering over 12,000 would be put at the disposal of the elections. He added that 1,500 soldiers, and hundreds of chefdom police, traffic wardens, fire fighters and prison officers would also be deployed. He said they would deploy general duty police and other security personnel at polling centres while the operational support division police would be deployed in strategic areas. He assured that they would not be visible as to scare the public but would be effective nevertheless.
He said they had developed a generic election plan which was being distributed to the military and other security forces in the country.
He stressed that “even if elections were to be conducted today the security sector was adequately prepared.”
Inspector General of Police, Francis Alieu Munu, said that people should stop entertaining “unnecessary fears” about the coming polls. He said November 17 was no extraordinary day, and urged people not to see it as such.
“The only strange thing is that we would be having four elections on one day. Aside that everything else remains the same,” he said, assuring that “the police as a body do not operate under the command of any government as it comprises people from every part of the country irrespective of political affiliation, region, tribe or religion.”
He assured that that their mandate “is against the bad people not the good ones. We all know what to do but those who chose to create trouble for one reason or the other would be dealt with by law.”
Munu said that like every other Sierra Leonean, each police officer was entitled to only one vote, adding that they were neutral and prepared. He advised the public to stop making a case where none existed.
