The Nigeria Police, in partnership with the Nigeria-German Development Cooperation (GIZ), has commenced a three-day capacity building workshop for police public relations officers.
According to the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, who declared the workshop open in Lagos on Wednesday, the workshop will be in two batches, with the second batch coming up in Abuja.
The theme of the workshop is ‘Crime Scene Management and Conclusive Criminal Investigations – The Role of Police Spokespersons’.
In his address while declaring open the workshop, IGP Alkali said he was particularly excited that the workshop was taking place at a time the Force is implementing a new manpower development policy, which amongst other things, focuses on improving capacity of police personnel across all ranks, in line with new policing standards and best practices.
According to him, the course seeks to equip the participants with skills necessary for effective descriptive, analytical and strategic communication touching on criminal investigations and procedure.
He expressed the hope that the workshop would impact police spokespersons positively, particularly in the areas of strategic communication and crime scene management.
“Participants of this course must be reminded that to succeed as police image makers, they must be versatile and have deep theoretical and practical knowledge of all aspects of policing, covering administration, operations, investigations, forensics, amongst others.
“I encourage participants to take advantage of the opportunities the workshop presents, to interact, cross-fertilize and broaden their skills, especially in responding to crime incidents and to fit-in to the ever demanding, dynamic but necessary task of information management and public engagement for the Force,” he said.
The Police IG reaffirmed the commitment of the Force under his leadership to well-thought-out and goal-driven partnership and collaborations, “with progressive and positive-minded organizations such as the GIZ, targeted at enhancing professional, structural and operational capacity of the Force.”
