Eyes Wide Open as United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Police Build Crime Investigation Capacity Among Colleagues in Wau

Investigating crimes is a key policing skill. UN Police in Wau recently taught a group of South Sudanese colleagues more about how to go about it (Photos: Jimmy Ludanga/UNMISS)

Being a police officer does not necessarily mean knowing how to investigate crimes. UN Police Officers, however, are addressing this occasional deficit among their South Sudanese counterparts by means of their raison d'être as peacekeepers serving with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS): capacity building.

Forty fortunate members of the South Sudan National Police Service based in Wau, 11 of whom were women, recently benefitted from a three-day-session of such enlightenment, covering a wide range of skills related to the foiling or investigation of criminal activities.

“I never knew that preserving the crime scene is important for the investigation, or that engaging specialists in collecting evidence to be presented to the court is a good idea,” admitted Corporal Abuoach Natale Paulo, one of the trainees, prompting a reply from his colleague, Sergeant Joseph John.

“As you can see, there is a need to train our young and new police officers, not least when it comes to recording statements of anyone involved in a suspected crime.”

Adequate ways to interact with the clientele of the law enforcement agents, be they victims, witnesses or suspects, were also covered during the policing crash course, much to the benefit of Sergeant Achieng Monywiir Deng, another workshop participant, and his future clients.

“This training is unique for me. This is the first time I’m being taught about human rights principles and how to apply them, for example when arresting someone, and when a suspect is being detained,” he said.