President Yoweri Museveni has today passed out 692 police officers of the 1st regiment of the field force unit with a call to them to maintain high discipline, exercise and focus.
He said a more efficient police force will enhance the overall defence capabilities of Uganda.
"This training brings out the potential of a human body, capable of high performance if well-trained as we have just witnessed. This way you can be able to walk long distances and run while chasing criminals. With your bare hands or using rifles or daggers, you can neutralize dangerous people," he said.
The President was presiding over the pass out of the 1st regiment of the Field Force Unit at the Police training school in Kabalye, Masindi district.
The President who initially inspected a guard of honour mounted by the police officers later witnessed exercises in stability, obstacle crossing including bridges, body stamina, tunnel/ladder stroke, wiremesh/trench jigs, shooting range etc that were over seen by SP Amboyo John Grey, the deputy Commandant of the school.
He later witnessed spectacular tactical demonstrations by the officers before handing over gifts to the best performing officers including N0. 55574 PC Caroline Acheng (best dagger), N0 57842 PC Charles Mukisa (best disciplined), N0 59894 PC Ejang Indikela (best woman commander) and N0 55471 PC Joseph Oboyo (best male commander).
N0 56323 PC Joseph Ogole was the best in skills at arms and a potential super sniper.
"In the past, the army was diverted to do internal security duties because the police had no capacity. We had to divert the whole 3rd battalion and part of the 5th battalion to deal with cattle rustling, if such a force was in place, they would have handled this," he said.
The President said he would discuss with the police leadership on strengthening the tasks in the force for better performance.
Referring to remarks by the IGP that some police officers in metropolitan Kampala had become slow with time, the President urged the force to maintain strict discipline and exercise saying everybody is capable of becoming obese describing the situation as fluid but said that this can change.
He commended the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for its support to Uganda and for training the first tank force and the Special Forces Command.
The IGP Gen Kale Kayihura said the directive to build a field force unit will help deal with paramilitary threats including terrorism/insurgencies, cattle rustling, riots, communal violence and other forms of extreme violence.
He said the programme is initially to training a brigade-size force that will be responsible for policing the city with a reserve to respond to emergencies.
"The plan is to deploy this to police the Entebbe-Kampala highway which is a focal point for the country," he said.
IGP Kayihura said criminal violence has increased in lethality and complexity with weapons and other security technologies becoming more pervasive and easily accessible to criminals and criminal groups.
"Mobile telephones and the internet have enhanced the organisation and efficiency of criminal gangs.
Police officers on routine patrol face unprecedented threats and have never been more vulnerable," he said.
He assured the new officers that the force has big plans for there development and called on them to work out of love for the people and for their country.
The Commandant Police Training school, Kabalye ACP Kafeero Moses said the six months course saw a total of 692 officers, 51 of whom are females trained successfully in various fields including Public order management, foot and motorised operations, skills at various arms, counter terrorism, martial arts, ideological development, human rights and new laws.
33 people were dismissed on disciplinary grounds while 17 deserted.
He urged the officers to perform their work with discipline, integrity and hard work.
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