Provincial Police Commander (PPC), Choiseul Province, Superintendent Cedor Nevol says the Media Awareness Training conducted at the Taro Police Station 9 – 13 April 2018 will enable her officers to make more use of the power of the media to spread information to the people in the Province and rest of the country about the work of the police.
Ten participants including the PPC and Heads of Units at the Taro Police Station attended the training. Two other female participants, besides the PPC, participated in the training.
“We are so privileged to be given this opportunity to learn about how we police officers can use the media to spread information and key messages about the work of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) but more specifically the activities of the police in Choiseul Province,” says PPC Nevol.
Superintendent Nevol adds: “If we the police want our communities to have confidence in us, we must be transparent about our work and one of the ways we can do this is using the media including newspapers, radio and now the social media which is accessible by our people.”
PPC Nevol says, “I want to thank the Commissioner of Police, Matthew Varley for endorsing this training program and Commander of the Solomon Islands Police Development Program (SIPDP) John Tanti for funding the Program’s Media Advisor, Johnson Honimae to implement the training program in Choiseul Province as well as other provinces.”
During the Media Awareness Training participants were briefed on the RSIPF Commissioner’s Order on Media, the RSIPF Media Strategy, expectations of the Media, how to draft a media release, interview techniques, photography, dealing with media enquiries and developing relations with the media.
At the end of the Training participants produced several media releases covering reports of crime and other activities by the police in Taro.
The Media Awareness Training is being coordinated by SIPDP as part of the strengthening of the capability of the RSIPF Media Unit to market the RSIPF with the aim of increasing the confidence of communities in the Force.
The Training, which started at the Gizo Police Station in Western Province early in February this year, has so far been held at the Auki, Kirakira and Buala Police Stations. It is expected to be held at all the other provincial centres including Honiara City by the end May this year.
– Police Media