14 February 2014 - Building South Sudanese police skills in use of force, UN Police (UNPOL) concluded a five-day training today with a graduation ceremony in Aweil West County, Northern Bahr El-Ghazal State.

The main topic of the workshop for 22 South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS) officers was the use of force when arresting suspects who resisted.

“Together, we worked out that only necessary force is used and must be proportional,” said Heiko Lammartz, UNPOL Chief Inspector in the state. “How to arrest somebody who is verbal resistant, how to handicap him, how to search him and how to bring him to the police station.”

Participants, who were presented with certificates and t-shirts, commended UNMISS for giving them new knowledge.

“I am very happy because they taught us how to arrest criminals who resist us with arrest warrants, and how to deal with drug abusers,” said SSNPS Officer Majok Kuach Jok.

“(They taught us) how to deal with armed criminals with knives, spears and even a machine gun,” he said “Now we are ready to put that into practice.’’

Another participant said they had also learned how to arrest suspects pretending to be of unsound mind. “If I implement this knowledge there will be a difference between before and after this course,’’ said SSNPS Officer Akech Achor Uchala.

The same day, UNPOL concluded a three-month training for four SSNPS officers on basic computer skills in Gok-machar of Aweil North County.