Freetown City Council has recruited 50 Metropolitan Police Officers that have started their basic police training, which kicked off with an opening ceremony held at the Sierra Leone Peacekeeping and Law Enforcement Academy at Hastings.

The training of the FCC METPOL recruits will be a demanding 8-week program led by the Sierra Leone Police, which will lay the foundations for the recruits’ future careers.

Since 2010, this is the first cohort of newly-recruited METPOL officers to be trained – a milestone for FCC. The training will significantly improve FCC’s capacity to protect life and property, and enforce sanitation Freetown’s bylaws.

These functions are central to my drive to keep #Freetown clean, reduce the risks of disaster and improve quality of life for all #Freetonians. This increase in METPOL’s strength is the first step in an ongoing reform that aims to enhance the force’s capacity as a credible, professional force that serves the City with distinction.

FCC’s Chief Administrator, Mr Festus Kallay, the Chair of the FCC Security Committee, the Head of the Human Resource Department, the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police, and a number of Ward Councillors joined Deputy Mayor Osman T Koroma, to urge the recruits to train hard, and to thank the SLP, represented by Deputy Inspector General, Elizabeth Turay, for their excellent support.