The
National Environment Agency (NEA) Monday donated communication items to the
Gambia Police Force (GPF) as part of an MoU signed between the GPF and NEA.
The
partnership will enable the police communication unit to support the
enforcement of the anti-littering law in getting evidence while conducting
investigations.
The
presentation was held at the NEA head office, attended by senior police
commissioners and staff of the NEA.
The
acting Executive Director of NEA, Momodou Suwareh, while speaking on the
occasion, said collaborating with the Gambia Police Force is necessary.
The
MoU was signed in 2015 between the two institutions as a framework of
cooperation to enforce and implement the environmental laws, he said.
He
added that the police would provide NEA a detail account of the cases to be
filed, and NEA would be providing logistics support and a coordinating team to
enable them perform their duties.
“We
will build their capacity to make their job easy and understandable and be well
equipped,” he said.
Environmental
agencies all over the world use cameras as evidence and the NEA always wins
cases in court, because the pictures provide evidence, he stated.
Police
commissioner Lamin Banda, who delivered the vote of thanks on behalf of the
police force, thanked the NEA, adding that the GFP needs to partner with
relevant institutions to boost its staff through capacity building, as well as
make good use of the collaboration with those institutions.
“Capacity
building is a core challenge for us when conducting enforcement,” police
commissioner Banda said.
“We
urge NEA to design training modules which we can implement at our police
training academy.”
