Head of Media, Public Relations and Sports, Sierra Leone Police (SLP), Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Brima Kamara, has in an exclusive interview disclosed to Concord Times that, they have promoted over 40% of police officers, after three years without them promoted. He disclosed that they have promoted four thousand one hundred and forty-five personnel’s country wide.

ACP Brima Kamara, said 72 officers were promoted to the rank of Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), of which 53 males benefitted while 19 females benefitted. He said among 85 officers that were promoted to the rank of Superintendent, 72 males while 13 were females, 209 officers promoted to the rank of Deputy Superintendent-170 males and 39 females, 329 officers promoted to the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police, 155 male and 74 females.

He continued that among 409 officers that were promoted to the rank of Chief Inspector, 293 were males and 116 females. He said among 290 personnel that p r o m o t e d t o t h e r a n k o f Inspector,96 were males while 94 were females. The head of police media said among 763 officers that were promoted to the rank of subinspector,459 were males and 304 females, adding that 100 male officers were promoted to the rank of Sergeant Major.

He said among 778 officers that were promoted to the rank of Sergeant,492 were males while 286 were females, whereas, 1212 officers were promoted to the rank of Corporal- 698 male and 514 females. ACP Kamara said the police force is in itself a promotional job, noting that there is hierarchy in the force; hence, there was need for promotion. He further stressed the need for promotion, noting that the new promotions come with new assignment.

He disclosed that the Management of the Sierra Leone Police does promotes police officers who are efficient, diligent, committed as well as the number of years a police officer has served the force.

“The other reason why we promote people is to motivate them to do the job,” he added.

He recalled that many years ago, the police had a number of ranks, but that over the years, ranks such as corporal, sergeant major, sub inspector, among others, were disestablished. He said the argument put forward for the restructuring, among others, was that there was duplication of roles, as well as overlapping of functions.

“At the time it was good for us, because we needed some young guys to come up and occupy certain ranks, but going forward we realized that that decision has some other issues, for at some point, there was stagnation because vacancy hardly exist,” he further explained.

He further spoke highly of the re introduction of the ranks, for according to him, the ranks brought respectability in the force, for there were gaps that needed to be filled before a police officer reached certain level. He said the chain of command has to be strengthened.