Regional meeting closes with police-judiciary co-op call |15 March 2005

The recommendation was one of several to come out of the permanent coordinating committee of the Interpol-linked Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (EAPCCO) meeting on Friday and Saturday at the Police Academy at Pointe Larue.

The coordinating committee – which every year brings together the heads of criminal investigation departments (CID) in police organisations from Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Sudan and other East African countries in addition to Seychelles – welcomed the existing cooperation between police and their national judiciary, but noted the frustration experienced by negative decisions in the extradition of fugitives.

EAPCCO member countries also resolved to exchange information on criminal activities and crime groups in collaboration with Interpol’s Sub Regional Bureau in Nairobi. The committee urged the national police forces to make better use of Interpol data bases on stolen motor vehicles and other cross-border crimes, and EAPCCO will also stage a pilot joint operation involving Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Through the meeting, an offer has also been extended for computer-based training programmes on drugs and anti money laundering.

Speaking to officially close the meeting on Saturday, Superintendent Ernest Quatre, the CID commanding officer and the chairman of the permanent coordinating committee, noted his satisfaction with the results of the meeting.

He extended his thanks to all the delegates “for the professional way that you have conducted yourselves during the meeting, for sharing varied views and opinions and making good recommendations and resolutions…”

Superintendent Quatre likened the region’s police work to the response needed in the wake of the December 26 tsunami – stressing the need for all agencies to pool their “ideas, experiences and resources in order to save life and property.”