Sierra Leone Police (SLP), under the astute leadership of the Inspector General, William Fayia Sellu, have recently moved from group three to two on the implementation list of the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) Project in West Africa.
AFIS is a component of the West Africa Police Information System (WAPIS) that deals with data collection and protection in order to aid investigation on crime.
WAPIS, according to the Police Chief, will help change the lives of every citizen by making law enforcement authorities more efficient and accountable and also help government guarantees a higher level of security for citizens.
WAPIS, he went on, is also a tool for statistical purpose that can help define crime statistics in a determined area or on determined types of crime, thus subsequently help heads of law enforcement agencies to better define national crime fighting strategies.
With the European Union (EU) winding up its financial support in 2025, the Inspector General of Police therefore called on government to take ownership of the project for its sustainability. He lamented that it would be unfortunate if Sierra Leone fails to ensure maintenance, development and expansion of the WAPIS system after the end of the programme in 2025 when the EU funding will stop, stressing that all the efforts would be in vain. The police boss furthered that he has been using the SLP budget to ensure the expansion of WAPIS outside Freetown. He also noted that the financial sustainability of WAPIS is sensitive and essential, pointing out that financial constraints leave any assignment of personnel and allocation of a budget for a new service requiring enormous sacrifices from government.
He therefore requested the Internal Affairs Minister to Champion the cause of a budget line allocation for the WAPIS system in Parliament to ensure sustainability. He disclosed appreciation of any initiative by the Police overseeing minister to ensure the sustainability of WAPIS in the country.
Copyright –Published in print in Expo Times Newspaper on Monday, June 24th , 2024 (ExpoTimes News – Expo Media Group (expomediasl.com)
