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New sub-county policing model to strengthen national security – Byakagaba

IGP Abbas Byakagaba addressing the media on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 at Police Headquarters in Naguru, Kampala (Photo/Courtesy)

Kampala, (UG):- Uganda’s Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mr Abbas Byakagaba has revealed that the new Sub-County Policing Model (SCPM) is set to be a gamechanger in enhancing community-policing and strengthening national security.

While updating the country on the implementation of the program on Wednesday, January 29, IGP Byakagaba emphasized that the SCP Model was inspired by guidance from President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni during the 25th Annual Police Council meeting in Kampala on November 19, 2019.

The President, in his Executive Order No. 03 of 2023, emphasized that the Uganda Police Force (UPF) had to expand beyond Kampala, ensuring a police presence in every sub-county, municipal, and town council across the country.

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“The President in effect guided that every Sub-county/Municipal/Town council be turned into a Police Station with all UPF capabilities to respond to policing needs of our people,” Byakagaba stated.

The IGP noted that for years, policing efforts have been concentrated in urban areas, leaving rural and peri-urban communities underserved.

“With the establishment of anti-crime infrastructure such as CCTV in the cities and urban centres, the criminals shifted to rural and peri-urban areas where they are committing crimes thus affecting the livelihood of rural communities and implementation of Government programs such as PDM, EMYOOGA and Operation Wealth Creation,” he highlighted.

According to Mr Byakagaba, the model’s operationalization is already underway, with a strategic reorganization and rationalization of UPF resources.

“The operationalization of the program has taken shape with the reorganization and rationalization of the existing UPF resources. Eight (08) regions with 49 Districts and 591 sub-counties have been covered,” he said.

Under this program, Byakagaba explained that each sub-county, municipal, or town council will be staffed with a team of 18 officers, including an Officer in Charge (OC) Station, 12 general-duty police officers for patrols, personnel from the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID), Crime Intelligence (CI), the Child and Family Protection Unit (CFPU), and Community Liaison Officers (CLOs).

The deployment will also be supported by three motorcycles, four portable radios, one VHF base radio, and one counter telephone.

Speaking at the same function, the Uganda Police Director of Operations, AIGP Frank Mwesigwa, said the “benefits of the SCPM will include improved police-community trust, faster crime reporting and response, reduced crime through proactive measures and better resource distribution at the grassroot level.”

AIGPs Christopher Ddamulira (L) and Frank Mwesigwa (R) at the launch of SCP model on Wednesday (Photo/NilePost)

AIGP Christopher Ddamulira Yiga, the Police Director of Criminal Intelligence, reemphasized that the program’s rollout shall also involve the redeployment of thousands of officers to sub-counties, marking the start of a nationwide transformation in policing.

Officers on tenterhooks

Police officers who this publication spoke to appeared not to welcome the new program with open arms, with some expressing worry in fear of leaving their comfort life in Kampala city to be deployed in remote areas.

Others were in fear of the files that they were handling in towns where they expected good facilitation while some were used of the evening outings to luxurious places that may hardly be found in villages.

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