IG Offers Amnesty to ‘Offending’Police Officers

On the recommendations of international police consultants, Sierra Leone’s Inspector General of Police has offered a 30 day amnesty to police officers in the SLP who have illegally obtained additional educational qualifications without going through the official study leave process.

This amnesty, according to correspondence circulated within the force is to allow officers who currently possess additional qualifications to declare them without the fear of the usual investigation and punishment, which would normally have awaited them.

Officers within the police ranks have hailed the gesture, which they say will place the SLP on a new pedestal. They say this move will enhance staff motivation at all levels and they can now be free to associate with the credentials they have studied hard to achieve. A junior officer, who preferred anonymity, told this reporter that he has suffered to obtain his degree while working full time, almost failing on a number of occasions, but just persevering and working permanent night shifts, with the help of his LUC. You may think I am lazy, he said, but the last thing I want to do after a long hard night at work is to stick my head in a lecture handouts. But I had no choice. IT becomes doubly hard when you eventually graduate but cannot declare your new credentials for fear of punishment. With this amnesty, I now have the opportunity to come clean.

Some officers questioned the sincerity of the amnesty offer, describing it as a trick to bring people out for punishment. However, usually reliable sources within the IG’s office assured the public that the offer was genuine, based on a solid business case as presented to the Executive Management Board by a team of seasoned international police consultants.

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