A delegation of six officials from Burkina Faso visited Rwanda National Police on yesterday and commended the force’s judicial system and its policing initiatives in ensuring safety and security.

The officials, in the country since Saturday for a five-day visit as part of their learning tour, said the tour was meant to facilitate judicial reforms in Burkina Faso.

"We came to Rwanda for many reasons; We have a ten-year project (2010 to 2019) in Burkina Faso to see how we can achieve our objectives of having a well structured justice system for all and we understand that in the justice chain, Police is the starting point and that’s why we have visited Rwanda Police to see and learn from your experience,” Mouhamadou Niang, the head of the delegation, said.

"Choosing Rwanda as a learning centre was a wise decision. Rwanda is an example of the significance of information technology in Africa, both in public services and in judiciary, and that’s why we are here to learn how you do it so that these best practices can be replicated back in our country,” he added.

During a meeting at the Police headquarters in Kacyiru, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Theos Badege, Commisioner for Criminal Investigation Department at RNP, briefed the officials on the history of the Force and its policing initiatives devised to accomplish its mandate and support the country’s judicial system.

He took them through the priority policing areas that include e-policing, capacity building, welfare and infrastructure development.

Other priority areas include community policing, crime prevention and reduction strategy, fighting corruption, international cooperation and e-policing.

"We have put some of our services online such as registration of driver’s licence, filing a complaint online, identification and tracking traffic defaulters. Rwanda National Police invests a lot in innovations and it’s a continous effort in Force development,” ACP Badege said.

Currently Police forwards case files to Prosecution electronically through an ‘Integrated Electronic Case Management System’ which brings together all judicial entities that also include judiciary, Rwanda Correctional Services and Civil Litigation Services.

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