Uganda Police Force UPF Training School

Uganda Police Force UPF Training School

Uganda Police Force UPF Training School – Check details below:

Police Training School at Kabalye, Masindi

TRAINING

Origins of Training Assistance

UK involvement with the training of Ugandan police officers stretches back to the immediate post Amin years but the assistance provided during this project has its roots in assistance given since 1986.

Between 1986 and 1990 a British Police Training Team (BPTT) was resident in Uganda and assisted in the basic training of recruits, promotional training, the education of direct entry graduate cadet superintendents and criminal investigation training. The BPTT also provided inputs on policing by consent and helped to train police officers in some of the processes of
community policing. The BPTT included a female superintendent who was able to undertake some training in sexual offence and family violence investigation techniques together with general training in gender-related issues.

The needs analysis carried out for the project in 1989 recognised the importance of training to the UPF’s development and recommended that future assistance to the UPF should include trainers with the skills to organise courses in such specialist areas as criminal investigation, traffic policing and scene-of-crime techniques. These recommendations formed the basis of the
training component of both phases of the project.

SEE ALSO: Ranks and their Salaries of Uganda Police Force

Infrastructure : Uganda Police Force UPF Training School

The Uganda Police Force (UPF) has three training establishments:

  • The Recruit Training Centre at Masindi;
  • The Police Training School at Kibuli;
  • The Police Staff College at Naguru.

The Recruit Training Centre at Masindi received little attention under the ODA/DFID project apart from some modest support for curriculum reform. Masindi was not visited during the evaluation. Reports prepared by both British and Ugandan observers describe it as of poor quality and unsuitable for the purpose of introducing young people into the police service.

By contrast, the purpose-built Police training School at Kibuli received considerable assistance to refurbish the fabric of the buildings (mostly under a separate UK rehabilitation programme) and to improve its training capacity (under the present project). Uganda Police Force UPF Training School

The Government of Uganda (GoU) has allocated the premises of the Police Staff College at Naguru to UNAFRI and it is no longer available for the training of managerial police officers. Management training is undertaken either at Kibuli or on specially designed courses at the Uganda Management Institute (UMI). The UPF intends to re-style Kibuli as
The Police College and to conduct all in-service and management training there once it has been fully refurbished.

The Director of Training is based at Kibuli, with responsibility for recruit training at Masindi and in-service training at Kibuli. The Training Planning Unit at Kibuli, developed since 1995 with UK support, is also part of his responsibility.

Human Resource Issues

The wider institutional context in which UPF training has been taking place – both within the project and more generally – has had an important bearing on the nature of the training and its outcome. In Uganda, as elsewhere, the training of police officers and support staff needs to be set in the context of a comprehensive human resource strategy if it is to ensure that training is focused on the strategic needs of the organisation and that valuable skills gained in training are not wasted through unnecessary transfers.

The problem of transfers has been pervasive and wide-ranging in the UPF, with countless examples of officers transferred without apparent regard to the training investment made in them. This issue, which reflects wider weaknesses in personnel policy, was raised by project staff on many occasions over the life of the project but without real improvement. With the wisdom of hindsight, it would have been preferable for the development of a UPF human resource strategy to have been made an integral part of the original project design, rather than leave it to Phase II.

Phase I (1991-93) : Uganda Police Force UPF Training School

The first phase identified training as a priority. A training adviser was appointed “to assist the UPF to develop a national and comprehensive self sustaining training department”. Because of doubts about the effectiveness and sustainability of training assistance provided before 1990 the role of the training adviser was specifically intended “to draw together the whole training
organisation into a force-wide training department, to prepare a strategy and, as far as possible, the implementation of it.”

This demanding challenge called for a TCO with a broad experience in all aspects of police training including training management. The TCO appointed had been in Uganda previously and had a sound knowledge of the country, its customs and the problems faced by the UPF. His training expertise was however confined largely to the area of criminal investigation support, with little experience of the management and development of training for general police duties, so it is hardly surprising if the most significant advances at this time were made in the training of officers for the Identification Bureau in scene of crime examination and fingerprints.

These limitations were recognised by the Overseas Police Adviser during his visit in August 1991 but his recommendation that professional help was needed by the UPF to formulate its strategy for training was not acted upon until the design of Phase II in 1993. As a result an opportunity was missed to enhance UPF training capacity at an early stage.

It is important to ensure that selected TCO personnel have the skill set demanded by the job description of the post they are to fill. Once appointed it is difficult to replace them prematurely.

Important progress was nevertheless made under Phase I in the following areas:-

  • analysis of the basic training course curriculum,
  • the introduction of training in community policing skills,
  • the revision of traffic training in the light of work done by project consultants,
  • the bringing up to international fingerprinting standards of Identification Bureau
    personnel (this positive development is now threatened by the imminent retirement
    of qualified personnel),
  • the bringing up to, and sustaining, of the force’s scene of crime investigation
    capability,
  • the development of much needed courses for CID officers.

There was also an attempt to introduce effective regional training by the appointment of District Training Officers (DTOs). This went some way towards establishing the value of the DTO system but did not immediately take root, being dogged
by the lack of equipment, stationery and finance. The initiative did however act as a stimulus for developments in the next phase.

Phase II (1993-97)

The project extension, approved in July 1993, included the provision of assistance to develop UPF capacity to design course curricula, monitor and evaluate training, undertake training needs analysis and manage the training function as recommended by the OPA some two years earlier. In contrast to the previous training appointment the new broader-based training post was put out to competition. Recruitment was delayed for a variety of reasons – including the last-minute withdrawal of one selected candidate – and it was not until early 1995 that a final appointment was made. This delay, which meant that the Training Adviser arrived in Uganda barely three months before the Project Co-ordinator left, had a major effect on the shape of the
project, which has undergone de facto extension to accommodate the delay. It did, however, lead to the recruitment of a well-qualified candidate who, following extensions to his contract, was until recently still working in Uganda.

A properly conducted selection competition will generally produce a well-qualified TCO. But this does also need to be completed in a timely manner.

Under Phase I in-country training had been organised by the Project Co-ordinator in conjunction with Recruitment Section in East Kilbride. This proved a cumbersome and unsatisfactory arrangement. Under Phase II the British Council were contracted to handle the in-country training programme. This has proved a more efficient if more expensive way of organising short term TCO inputs to training development and courses.

A specialist contractor with local as well as UK representation will often be better placed than DFID to organise in-country training.

Despite the long delay in getting started, the training component of Phase II has proved generally very successful. The Training Planning Unit (TPU) is securely in existence, with counterparts trained and in place. It is fully staffed and has been equipped, through the project, with state of the art personal computers and peripheral hardware. More remarkably, the TCO appears to have negotiated security of tenure for the staff he has trained, which should help to ensure the sustainability of the TPU and safeguard the quality of training provided. A (female) superintendent has gained experience of managing the Unit on her own initiative and should be well placed to cope following the departure of the TCO. A Training Strategy has been formulated within the UPF Five-Year Plan.

The development of District Training Officers has progressed but is still dogged by a lack of finance and materials. In the districts where the DPC has shown a real interest progress is being made but this is very patchy. The project provided support to the Head of Training and senior management to put the DTO initiative on a firmer footing. The UPF recognises the value
of the system but facilities for training are less than adequate and local training budgets fall well short of what is required.

Short term training inputs have included:

  • strategic crime management,
  • quality of service,
  • the development of internal inspectorate skills,
  • intervention in hostage taking situations, and
  • gender issues courses (see also Annex J).

Training and Study in the United Kingdom

Training and study in the United Kingdom have been used to provide opportunities for key UPF personnel to gain experience and know-how that could not be obtained either through in-country training or day to day experience. A schedule of the courses and study undertaken is at Annex K. Uganda Police Force UPF Training School

During the evaluation we met a number of officers who had trained in the United Kingdom. All were appreciative of the value of their visits and many were able to point to examples of good practice, learned in the United Kingdom, being applied to the policing of Uganda. The original initiative towards community policing in Old Kampala, for example, flowed from knowledge that an officer acquired whilst on the Overseas Command Course at the Police Staff College. This does not, however, alter our judgement that all too often officers have been transferred to duties which make no use of their specialist knowledge gained in the United Kingdom

CHECK OUT: Interview Shortlisted Candidates of Uganda Police Force

Conclusion

After a slow start, marked by the establishment of the Training Planning Unit, the training of police officers in Uganda has now entered a period of consolidation. The project has been of significant value in helping to formulate, develop and implement a training strategy for the UPF. There is still much for the UPF and the GoU to do, especially in the provision of finance for
improvements to the training estate, the development of training at district level, and the provision of training materials. Further thought needs to be given to the structure of the Initial Training Course at Masindi. A recent Review of the Criminal Justice System, funded by DFID, has revealed a number of areas where the training of all police officers in the investigation of
crime needs to be modernised.

As criminals become more sophisticated so police organisations need to invest more in training if their officers are to provide an effective and professional response to crime control and community safety. In this sense no police training is ever complete. But a good start has been made.

 

2 thoughts on “Uganda Police Force UPF Training School

  1. Nuwabiine Vicent

    I would like to know if it’s possible to have training in defensive driving skills & techniques. I am a Ugandan civilian driver working with government organization. Thank you.

    Reply
  2. Fiona

    Thank you for protecting life and our property. I am not a police officer but want to do a course in policing and criminal investigations. I am a Diploma holder in law, business administration and bachelors in law. Currently I am pursuing a post graduate diploma in public administration. What can I do?

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *