Turkey to train Kenyan police in fighting crime

By Magdalene Mukami and Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya

Turkey wants to train Kenyan police officers in fighting crime, including terrorism, the local head of Turkey’s state-run aid agency told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

A high-level delegation from Turkey met with top officials from the Kenya National Police Service to discuss the particulars of the training. The Turkish group included Alper Ozdemir, first-class police chief at Police Vocational School, and Erkin Tanrikulu, a second-class security director and vice-president security general.

Emre Yuksek, the coordinator in Kenya of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), told Anadolu Agency: “With TIKA collaboration, the Turkish General Director of Security Services has rolled out international police training programs across the world, and we also want to extend the coverage to Kenya’s National Police.”

In the presence of Turkey’s ambassador to Kenya, both sides agreed to work together, especially on specialized Turkish courses on criminal investigation, crisis management, anti-terrorism, organized crime, car theft, and other many different areas.

The Turkish delegation will be in Kenya for four days visiting various police divisions to see where improvements are needed.

According to a TIKA statement, the training offered across the world includes courses in basic intelligence, pedestrian and mobile tracking, counter-terrorism, organized crime, shooting techniques and tactics, car theft, guarding VIPs, police training, police defense tactics, intelligence in combating global terrorism, crisis/hostage negotiation, protecting important premises against terrorism, and cyber crimes.

Kenya’s police inspector general expressed his thanks to the people and government of Turkey for coming in to assist the East African nation at an opportune time when they are combating acts of crime such as those by the Somali-based al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabaab militant group.