Police steps up anti-drugs campaign in schools

The Rwanda National Police has started a five-day awareness campaign against drug abuse in secondary schools as the force heightens fight against the vice, which is rated highest among the youth. Supt Sam Rumanzi, the director of Community Policing in RNP, said the move is aimed at strengthening the existing partnership with anti-crime clubs in secondary schools and to equip them with more skills and knowledge to deter the sell and consumption of narcotics and illicit brew. “It is through such partnerships that we have been able to seize big quantities of cannabis and illicit brew, and many dealers apprehended based on the information provided. This makes it important to meet them, guide and remind them of their responsibilities as partners in crime prevention,” Rumanzi said. Drug abuse has been topping crime list in the country in the past years, with statistics indicating that 2,477 out of 3,132 people arrested last year are youth. At least 100 of the 504 schools with anti-crime clubs in the country will be visited in the course of the week. Rumanzi said some of the schools to be visited were selected based on information of their vulnerability, while others are those whose community was not sensitised during the previous campaigns. The campaign in schools comes to supplement other initiatives such as the Community Policing Week, all aimed at combating crimes by engaging the public, and specifically the vulnerable youth. Rumanzi also said plans are underway to establish anti-crime clubs in all the 1,466 secondary schools in the country. “It is not simple to establish such clubs in all these schools. It’s a gradual process, but that’s what we are aiming at,” he said.