South African police to help beef up local force |21 August 2018
The South African Police Services (SAPS) will be helping the Seychelles Police Force (SPF) identify its needs and shortcomings and compile a joint plan of action on how these will be addressed.
An eight-member multi-disciplinary high-level team from the SAPS is in Seychelles on a week-long mission to carry out this assessment.
Yesterday morning the team met the Commissioner of Police Kishnan Labonte in its first introductory meeting with senior officers of the different units and divisions of the SPF who will be working alongside the mission for the time it will be here.
The mission from SAPS is being led by Lieutenant General Marc Sumisa Magadlela and comprises officers from the divisions of crime intelligence, human resource development, detective services, forensic science and international relations.
Speaking to the local press after the meeting, Commissioner Labonte again reiterated the SPF’s sincere appreciation to SAPS’ support and keen desire to send a mission on the ground to make its own assessment of our force’s needs in all sectors before coming up with a true outcome.
Commissioner Labonte stated that the mission from SAPS is the culmination of the 2nd Session of the South Africa-Seychelles Joint Commission of Cooperation (JCC) which was held in South Africa in March this year.
Among matters discussed were policing and security cooperation between Seychelles and South Africa.
“In the ensuing discussions, it was agreed that a mission to Seychelles from SAPS in support of the Seychelles Police Force would take place,” Commissioner Labonte pointed out.
Among the areas of the SPF which Commissioner Labonte said they have already identified as requiring critical needs assessment are; public order policing, visible policing and the dog unit. For the latter, the SPF’s request for the mission to bring in narcotic samples for dog training purposes have not been met due to legal restrictions.
He further noted that the SPF welcomes and appreciates the high-level delegation who has responded to its call for help and come to conduct this mission.
“It is clear that the mission not only has the ability to identify any needs and gaps but also has the authority to make decisions to take the plan of action forward,” Commissioner Labonte pointed out.
Meanwhile Commissioner Labonte has revealed that during his visit to Pretoria in March he presented the draft of an MoU to SAPS with the aim to further boost bilateral cooperation between the two countries’ police forces.
Following the meeting yesterday the mission visited the Seychelles Police Academy at Pointe Larue.
“The aim is for them to see and assess the training programme police officers receive from the start which is very important to establish the strong base for future officers to stand on something that from the start of my mandate I also stressed on. In order to have a strong and reliable police force we need well trained officers who can act, think and react and for this they need to be well trained and to continuously follow more training,” Commissioner Labonte stressed.
For his part Lieutenant General Magadlela said SAPS already has a good working relationship with the SPF in the field of forensics as well as dog training and when on the ground the mission will assess the SPF’s needs as well as share its experience and help the latter come up with an action plan to better address the different crimes and other aspects of police work.
During yesterday morning’s meeting senior officers of the SPF learned of the SAPS’ structure and the numerous divisions and units it operates with a police force of over 150,000 with the support of over 42,000 support staff.
The SPF also gave an overview of its structure and the different units of the local force as well as the challenges it faces.