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The Sierra Leone Police (SLP) in collaboration with the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) on Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 March 2023, organized a two-day training on the roles and responsibilities of the two institutions during the operational activities of their fieldwork.
The training included ten (10) SLP personnel and thirty (30) Journalists from various media outlets totalling 40 participants; held at the Police Wives Vocational Training Centre, Kingtom in Freetown.
The topics dealt with during the training were some aspectaspectse Police Act; the process of the police in handling fake news, misinformation and disinformation; the flow of Information from one point to another from the police; the 1965 Public Order Act section 5, 11 and 17 and the exempted classes of information and Right to Access Information (RIAC).
In his opening remarks during the training, the President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, Ahmed Sahid Nasralla aka (D-Monk) told participants about the importance of the training; and how it would serve and provide safety in the roles and responsibilities for all Journalists in the field. Adding that the training would help the SLP and Journalists when executing their duties.
He continued that the training will supports and keep participants abreast of covering their activities needed by police including safety and security.
The President of SLAJ however called for collaboration with SLAJ for future training in which the RSLAF is not an exception to do the same as the SLP-SLAJ joint training done on that day.
According to the Inspector General (IG) of the Sierra Leone Police, William Fayia Sellu; he first described the joint training for the SLP and Journalists as something that he had planned to undertake.
He stated that over the years he had been a good friend of most Journalists in the country. He also said during the days of the Former President, Alhaji Ahmed Tejan Kabbah when Mr Kelvin Lewis and Jonathan Leigh were his good friends; they led him to gain more passion for the work of Journalism at that time after he graduated from N’jala University but he could not subscribe to it because of its critical nature.
But most importantly, he disclosed he was also romancing them because they provided him with better information to immediately launch a police operation. He called on all participants to see themselves as working as one for the good of the nation’s peace and security.
Fayia Sellu thanked the organisers of the training, especially the Communication Unit and the community relations department.
The training ended with a training certificate given to each participant after the closing ceremony.
