Police start vocational skilling for habitual criminals
Police leaders receive a dummy cheque from members of BAPS charities at the handover of the Clock Tower police in Kampala on November 16, 2024. PHOTO/STEPHEN OTAGE
What you need to know:
- Mr Martin Okoyo, the Kampala Central Division Police commander, said the area where the newly built police post is located has been one of the biggest black spots for crime in the city.
Police have asked the public to report criminals so that they can be rehabilitated by enrolling them on different government skilling programmes. While receiving Biwologoma Police Post at Clock Tower in Kampala on Saturday, Mr Richard Ecega, the commander of Kampala Metropolitan Police, said former convicts, who have served their jail sentences and returned to the community but have failed to reform, need to be counselled and given vocational skills to earn a decent living.
“These are the same people snatching phones. After serving their sentences, they come back, and they are known. We shall do our part, we shall change others; as they go to Luzira and Kigo, they learn new skills. Right now, we have a team dealing with the ghetto youth in Kanyanya,” he said.
Mr Ecega said they were guided by President Museveni and the Inspector General of Police who embraced the programme. This, he explained, was after former convicts who had benefited from training in carpentry, salon, and mushroom growing, confessed that they were drawn into criminal activities because they did not have any socio-economic activities to engage in.
On Saturday, BAPs Charities, an Indian organisation, handed over the Biwologoma Police Post at Clock Tower to the police. The police post was built by the organisation at the request of the Force to fight criminality in the area.
Mr Martin Okoyo, the Kampala Central Division Police commander, said the area where the newly built police post is located has been one of the biggest black spots for crime in the city.
Impact
He said the recent construction of the flyover has curtailed the activities of the criminals who have retreated to the city outskirts.
Mr Okoyo hailed the cooperation between the community and police, which helped in identifying the land to build the police post and the funder to construct it.
Mr Ajay Singh, the spokesperson of BAPs Charities, said they established the charity in 1907 to honour Lord Swaminarayan and they have so created 116 humanitarian services aimed at uplifting the quality of community life in areas where they operate.
