Eastern Equatoria deploys new police graduates

TORIT – Authorities in Eastern Equatoria state have begun deploying newly graduated police officers to counties and administrative areas, aiming to bolster security, according to the minister of local government and law enforcement Peter Lokeng Lotone.

Over 1,400 police personnel graduated in Torit town in mid-June. Officials say they will be deployed to address persistent insecurity in the state.

“The deployment is already underway,” Lotone said on Friday. “We are dispatching officers from headquarters to the counties where they will be assigned. We’ve deployed them to eight counties and the administrative area of Imehejek.”

Lotone explained that the new officers will be responsible for enforcing the rule of law across the eight counties. He urged communities to cooperate with the police and avoid taking the law into their own hands.

“We need the cooperation of the people in those counties. Communities need to work together with the police. They are the ones who will address law and order issues,” he said.

“Nobody as a civilian has to take the law into their hands. The police are going to handle the issue of law rule of law and have to make the counties to be calm and normal,” he added.

The minister also highlighted the state government’s request for approval from the national government to recruit more police.

“Our state lacks sufficient police to cover the eight counties and administrative areas. We are lobbying the national government to allow us to mobilize and train more officers,” he said.

“We need more than the 1,400 recently trained to effectively cover the eight counties, including the payams (districts) and bomas (villages), as highlighted by Minister Lokeng,” he added.