Police Reform – 2008
2008
In June 2008, the National Assembly passed the National Police Bill following a protracted debate. In South Sudan, the organized forces bill (police, fire brigade and wildlife) had been drafted and forwarded to the GoSS council of ministers for consideration. In July, officers to serve in the JIPU had been identified by the GoS Police Service and the SSPS and were deployed in Abyei town. After the appointment of the Abyei police commissioner, parties had also agreed to phase-wise deployment of 1,000 joint integrated police units comprising equal numbers from both the north and south. The UN coordinator was quoted saying that 379 police officers from the north had already arrived and the police personnel from the south were expected to arrive by the end of the week.1 The integrated units were deployed to maintain law and order in Abyei.
The UNMIS police component continued to train police officers, with a special focus on basic training. It was reported that the UNMIS trained a total of 1,700 government police officers in various specialties: forensics, crime investigation, gender issues, computers, explosives awareness and community policing. The UNMIS trained 100 women police officers in Khartoum on issues related to gender, domestic violence and child protection. In South Sudan, the UNMIS training 2,104 police officers. It was also reported that over 6,500 officers were harmonized and added to the UNMIS police personnel database.2