Members of the community policing committees (CPCs), in Rwanda’s Eastern Province, have received 175 mobile phones from the national police for effective communication.
During the handover event on Monday, commissioner of police Sam Karemera said the mobile phones will help the CPCs address security issues.
“We are giving out 175 handsets, which are 25 phones per district… We want increased reporting on small arms and security issues. A good communication system between the CPS and the police is vital,” he said, reported the New Times.
Karemera added that RNP will continue to offer enough communication facilities to facilitate grass roots leaders in communication and reporting.
The police said the country had done a good job controlling the distribution of firearms, with marked and registered weapons used by all armed security forces.
Record keeping and tracing of small arms and light weapons has also been enhanced.
“We identified obsolete, surplus and redundant arms and ammunitions which we destroyed…an arms destruction exercise was done. We are committed to address problems posed by the proliferation of illegal small arms”, said Karemera.
Protais Murayire, the Kirehe district mayor, said: “Community policing strategy has worked in bringing the general public to solve community problems.
“There is no doubt the mobile phones will ease the communication for CDCs trying to expose illegal arms held or other crimes.”
