English
Kinyarwanda
Residents of the Eastern Province say that Rwanda National Police’ community policing initiatives have contributed not only to behavioral but also helped them in accessing justice and built their confidence as players in crime prevention.
They made the revelation during their meeting with a team of senior police officers and officials from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), on September 15 in Nyagatare District.
The team that toured several parts of Nyagatare was headed by the Director of Civic Education in the Community Policing Department, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Teddy Ruyenzi, director of gender Promotion at RNP, Superintendent of Police (SP) Pélagie Dusabe and the UNDP representative at RNP, Emmanuel Macumu.
Desire Bazatsinda a resident of Nchuri village in Nyagatare, said that the level of security citizens enjoy is partly because of Community Policing Committee, and their mind-change to engage in crime prevention initiatives.
“Members of CPCs continuously educate us about our rights and how to access justice in case of any disputes, this has made our communities more secure,” said Bazatsinda.
The meeting was also attended by former drug addicts now organized under the umbrella association– Friends at Work. The association composed of 37 members was formed five months ago.
According to its chairman, Jean Marie Vianney Muhoza, the association now has over Rwf400, 000 on their bank account.
“All members have signed a performance contract to work hard and for each to have purchased a plot of land by the end of next year. All these achievements are possible because after we were sensitized by the Police and CPCs on dangers of drug abuse and responsible living, we decided to change our behavior and our way of living,” Muhoza said.
“We can even drink water now, which was like a taboo in the past. We are now happy that we are contributors to crime prevention and security,” he added.
The event was also attended by members of anti-crime clubs from schools in Nyagatare.
SSP Ruyenzi said that: “We are happy of all the crime prevention groups for their efforts in ensuring public safety but you need to keep up the fight against negative ideology and always share information timely. If we are to achieve our developmental goals we need to be citizens that are characterized by patriotism and integrity.”
During the meeting, Nyagatare District Community Liaison Officer (DCLO) Inspector of Police, Jean Claude Kaburabuza presented the crime status in the district saying that all the seized illegal substances were due to the cooperation with the public and community policing committees.
The past one month, he said, police seized 1,200 liters of illicit gin, 700kg of cannabis and 45 cartons of smuggled Lumartem tablets, all worth Rwf14m.
