Rwanda National Police

Over 600 local leaders and community security personnel from Kicukiro district met on October 18 to discuss on various security issues including the ongoing campaign against noise pollution, human trafficking and drug abuse.

The overall intent was to strengthen the proactive community policing approach to fight and prevent crimes in the district.

The District Police Commander, Chief Superintendent of Police Fred Ndoli, during the meeting observed that there is still cooperation gap between Police, local leaders and the general public to fight illegal and criminal acts happening in the district.

“We need to narrow that gap to shift from fighting to preventing crimes; analyzing anything that can cause insecurity  and exchanging information in time is therefore crucial if we have to be on a preventive side,” CSP Ndoli said.

He singled out drug abuse as a crime that requires immediate attention and challenged local leaders to carry on the awareness campaign against human trafficking and noise pollution.

“Noise pollution and night disturbance in Kigali is a major concern and people exercising their rights and beliefs should do so in a way that does not affect the rights of others,” he added.

The Rwanda National Police in partnership with local authorities is currently implementing the anti-noise pollution and night disturbance law as stipulated under article 600 of the penal code and articles 37 and 108 of the organic law determining the modalities of protection, conservation and promotion of environment in Rwanda.

This operation follows the September 17 meeting with church owners and leaders chaired by the Minister of Internal Security where they were explained on the law and urged to lower the volume of their sound systems, operate in designated areas and install sound proofs in their facilities.

The issue of trafficking in person has also been of great concern to the government, though Rwanda, in most cases, is used as a transit route.

Over 150 cases of human trafficking were registered in Rwanda since 2009, 90 percent of them females and 82 percent of them aged between 18 and 35.

The government recently conducted a high level dialogue on trafficking in human beings to collectively fight the exploitative business, which has become a global phenomena.