Police Council resolves to elevate Makerere University police station to division

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  | Police Council has resolved to elevate Makerere University police station to a fully-fledged policing division.

Over 230 members of Police Council resolved on Tuesday to upgrade Makerere to an independent police division thus alienating it from Wandegeya division that has been superintending the biggest part of the University.

Police Chief Political Commissar, Asan Kasingye, said police council resolved that Makerere becomes a division of its own. It will be under the command of a Division Police Commander –DPC just like other divisions that make up Kampala Metropolitan Police Area.

For a police station to be upgraded to a division it means its command structure changes, personnel number increases and more fleet has to be allocated to it.

The council believes elevating Makerere to a division, will enable it be in position to handle all security challenges including students’ protests.

A police division has not less than 200 police personnel, at least two patrol vehicles and motorcycles on standby for day and night security operations. This means Makerere will be equipped with 200 police officers with majority being from Field Force Police- FFU also known as Anti-Riot Police, a DPC at least at the rank of Superintendent of Police –SP, Officer in Charge –OC who must be an Assistant Superintendent of Police –ASP, a traffic commander who must also be at the rank of ASP and above.

Makerere will have an independent Criminal Investigations Department –CID and the commander will be at least an ASP with five or more detectives in addition to well-established police counter.

A division police is made of a station diary officer whose role is to attend register physical and phone call complaints, a cells guard, whose role is to receive and protect suspects in custody, a standby officer who must be over and above the rank of an Assistant Inspector of Police –AIP and an OC CID.

Kasingye said Police Council took a decision to upgrade Makerere to a division not only because of security threats it faces but because of the big population in the University. Makerere is believed to be having more than 30,000 students’ population.

Makerere will also be equipped with a fire brigade unit, fire truck and armoured personnel carriers –APCs that fire teargas and water cannon trucks. Kasingye said police have already engaged with Makerere university administration on how security should streamlined at the country’s oldest institution of higher learning.

With Makerere being elevated to a division, it will become the nineteenth division in Kampala Metropolitan Police Areas that covers Kampala City, Wakiso and Mukono districts. Some of other policing division in KMP include Wandegeya, Old Kampala and Kawempe that have been covering part of Makerere University and its neighbouring villages.

A Police Division has other police stations within it. It is not clear whether police posts in Makerere will now be turned into Police Stations.

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