Freetown City Council boosts its metropolitan police force with new recruits

Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr: 19 October 2021:

Last Saturday, 50 new recruits were welcomed into the FCC Metropolitan Police (Met Pol) Force at a ‘passing out’ ceremony held at the Sierra Leone Peacekeeping and Law Enforcement Academy in Hastings.

The ceremony followed eight weeks of training in physical, mental and behavioural techniques, which was the final phase of the recruitment process.

The training which was conducted under the supervision of the academy’s Commandant, was aimed at ensuring that the new recruits are prepared for the rigors and challenges of policing a city of more than 1.2 million people.

A cohort of six in-service personnel also spent two weeks on the programme gaining management skills.

The passing-out ceremony was attended by the Councillors and FCC staff, Deputy Inspector General of the Sierra Leone Police – Elizabeth Turay; Assistant AIG (Training), Jowuloh Ansumana Gbonnoh; Assistant Commissioner – Allieu Jalloh, Commandant of SL Peacekeeping and Law Enforcement Academy; Acting Commissioner – John T Lassayo, Head of the Metropolitan Police; Councillor Thomas C Pearce, Chairman of the Labour, Establishment and Security Committee; and other senior members of the Executive Management of the Sierra Leone Police.

I was thrilled to witness the various drills, to participate in the decorating of the in-service personnel and the delivery of awards.

This is a significant milestone for Freetown City Council as this is the first cohort of Metropolitan Police to be recruited and trained since 2010.

This intake will significantly improve FCC’s capacity to protect life and property and enforce FCC’s sanitation bylaws as FCC previously had only 110 Met Pol officers in the Force.

Thank you to the Sierra Leone Police for providing such excellent training to our newly recruited officers.

The cost of recruitment and the ongoing salary cost of the Met Police are fully borne by FCC. So, I am calling on all citizens of Freetown to please pay your property rates, business license and local tax so we can get the services we require. Thank you.

Let us – #TransformFreetown together!