Monrovia – With more than six months leading the Liberia National Police (LNP), Inspector General Patrick Sudue is thanking the public for its role in helping to reduce violent crimes in the country.
Report by Bettie K. Johnson-Mbayo, [email protected]
In an exclusive interview with FrontPage Africa, Sudue emphasized how getting tips from residents were important to solving crimes in recent months.
However, the police chief is “deeply concerned” about the spate of shootings in the past few months that left several people injured and murdered.
“We do believe that the community is the most important team member and that’s why we want to give recognition to them for the reductions (we’ve seen) in violent crime,” Sudue said while hailing communities for their “fearless efforts to stand up against violent crimes.”
“We appeal to the public to be resolute, see the police as your friend, community policing will make our work easy, the police will not exist without the people if you cannot interact with the people you will not be able to solve crime. Police cannot be everywhere at the same time.”
Sudue took over leadership of the LNP in February and has made community policing a focus of his administration while mitigating the lingering tension between officers and the public.
“I think we’re starting to break down some of those barriers in the community-police relations,” he said. “But also, people are sick and tired of the violence and they’re stepping up to report it.”
Frequent murders overshadowed the first several months of 2018, the rest of the months have been relatively peaceful and hoping well for the second half of the year — despite the spike in armed robbers.
‘Very tough footing’
Sudue said although the transition was smooth, his administration started on a “very tough footing”.
“When we took over, there were a lot of armed robberies and crimes but now most of the crimes that are reported, suspects are arrested and forwarded to court, it’s because the community is building confidence in us.”
Sudue said culprits of 80 to 90 percent of crimes committed since his ascendency, have been arrested and forwarded to court, something he reckons is in accordance with the rule of law and reaffirms citizens trust in the security sector.
“We have intensified community policing which is working very much for us, the communities are giving us information [about cases] like the Tyron Brown case, counterfeiting [Liberian dollar] case in Nimba County.”
In addition to strengthening community policing, the Police IG said his administration is also mitigating tension with communities in order to maintain the peace.
Recalling a tussle amongst residents of the gold mining town of Kinjor in Golakonneh District, Cape Mount County, he said the community was cautioned against violence and the significance of working with the police for the good of the community/
Recent, Sudue also led a delegation to Lofa County to mitigate a conflict between two tribes.
More Support Needed
Meanwhile, the LNP is still struggling with low budgetary support while supports from international partners are infrequent.
“We barely have enough to work with; we are making great strides to ensure that the people are safe in a peaceful environment. Despite the meager resources, we must work because that’s the job we chose,” he said while hailing the UNDP for its support.
“The donation of 153 uniforms is a very good start; we are appealing for more uniforms because these uniforms allow the men to effectively work because it also builds their integrity.”
Low Manpower
According to the Police IG, the strength of the force is low to match with the country’s population, adding that the ratio is 187 citizens to an officer.
He said although the police training academy is active, no recruitment has been done due to low budgetary.
“Manpower is a huge constraint, low resources, we have an approved budget of US$16 million and US$14.5 million is for salary and the rest is for goods and services. If you have little over US$1 million for goods and services there is a little to work with but we still have to keep the country safe,” Sudue said.
At the same time, Sudue has emphasized that his administration will not condone any act of corruption to discredit the work of the police, calling on the public to report the misconduct of the police officers.
“Trust me, if we get such evidence from the public you can rest assure we will take immediate action,” he said, adding that any officers caught in the act of soliciting a bribe from citizens will face the full weight of the law.
“If you are at the charge of quarters and the officer ask you to give him or her cash before they go on your case please do everything possible to inform the Police authority while you are at the station and that officers will be recalled and we will turn such officer over to the professional standard division which of course will take the necessary action if the officer is found liable,” he said.