Twenty officers attached to the Rwanda National Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have enrolled in a ‘Post Bomb Blast’ training exercise aimed at enhancing their skills in managing and investigating terror attacks.

The week-long training course, to be conducted by a group of trainers from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was officially opened on June 22 by the Commissioner for CID, Assistant Commissioner of Police Theos Badege.

Badege commended RNP’s partnership with the American government in fostering peace and security in Rwanda and the region.

"We, at RNP, always give priority to training and capacity building of our officers in order to adapt to the requirements necessary to overcome the changing trends of terror attacks,” ACP Badege said.

"We all know the negative impacts of bomb blasts, including the loss of innocent lives, and – which must be tackled through efficient partnerships, skills enhancement and professionalism,” he added.

"We are very committed to ensuring that officers are able to prevent, detect and investigate attacks whenever they occur. That is why we take advantage of competent partners like FBI who have the expertise in this field, we reiterate our gratitude to the US for its cooperation and partnership in fostering peace and security.”

The Chief Trainer, David McKean noted that the trainees will be initiated into post-blast investigations and searches, identification of explosives, as well as analysis of the damage caused.

"When officers come to a scene and they investigate the aftermath of an explosion, there are certain things that they need to learn in order to sight identifications in an explosion that can make leeway for quality investigations into what the cause was and leads to suspects,” McKean said.

He added: "In today’s world, we all share a common threat of terrorism and it is important for us to come together and overcome it through strong training and partnerships.”

The Regional Security Officer at the American Embassy in Rwanda, Patrick Latchaw, noted that this training presents a new opportunity of partnership between RNP and FBI in overcoming the threat of terrorism which is a danger to the social, political and economic setting of any given nation.

"We have partnered with RNP very frequently and it is through this relationship that we have built a strong link that can avert terror attacks or quickly respond to such attacks whenever they occur,” he said.

"We are also partnering with RNP in training formed police units before they are deployed for peacekeeping missions and continue to look for more areas of skills development and mutual cooperation in order to achieve a collective goal of sustainable peace and security.”

editorial@newtimes.co.rw