AMISOM Community Policing Drive Extends To Karaan District

Residents of Karaan, one of Mogadishu’s districts have welcomed the partnership extended by the Somali Police Force and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), Police unit, aimed at enhancing the partnership between communities and security institutions to enhance security as well as curb crime.

The meeting attracted diverse groups of people including women, youth, members of the business community and traditional elders, among others. The town hall meeting was hosted by the Karaan Deputy District Commissioner on Security and Political Affairs Mr. Salah Mohamed Muse, along with officers from the SPF and AMISOM police officers to discuss means of sharing information that aids security officers in ensuring the population’s security.

Speaking during the meeting, the Deputy District Commissioner urged the residents to embrace community policing, noting that civilians have a huge role to play in keeping their neighborhoods safe and secure: “The purpose of today’s meeting was to enhance the partnership between the community and the police to ensure we work more closely together. It is important for the peace of Karaan district and will help promote stability.

The residents also got an important and highly sought after item; that is the toll free line connecting the community and the police. This will encourage them to contact the authorities whenever they notice anything that is threat to security. The toll free 888 number will really help the community as they can call for help,” said Mr. Salah Mohamed Muse.

Captain Farah Abdullahi Mohamud, the Karaan District Deputy Police Station Commander reiterated the importance of close partnerships between the community and the security officers: “We are very happy with today’s event and the coming of AMISOM police who organized this event for the police to interact with the community.

It is a positive development and should be continuous. We constantly work with AMISOM Police and this has been beneficial both in terms of strengthening security as well as promoting the cooperation between the police and communities.

Whether it is the working relationship between AMISOM police and Somali police or between the Somali police and the public it is all vital and very beneficial,” said Capt. Mohamud. ASP Randolph Somiah of AMISOM Police noted that the community policing drive
which has been on-going is already bearing fruit; facilitating the work of the police in ensuring law and order.

“This programme has been the very best among all AMISOM programmes because this is the place that we have been able to educate and sensitize people about their responsibility towards reducing crime. Otherwise before then, people were not willing to give information to the police. They saw us as a threat but after doing these programmes at Hamar Weyne, Hamar Jajab, and Shibis among others, even the commanders and district commissioners have been reporting to us that it is having good impact, tremendous one because it is the place that people are willing to report crimes to the police,” noted ASP Somiah.

Speaking on behalf of the civil society, the chairperson of Kaaraan women group Mrs Suldana Ahmed Mohammed said, “We welcome today’s event and we are glad it happened as we needed it. I can say work is still ongoing and it is on the right truck but we would like to see more female police officers as we currently mostly see male officers. If someone posts a woman somewhere, it’s like posting a whole community. We sincerely welcome todays programme and we are ready to continue working as we love establishing peace.”