Twenty five officers of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) in Honiara and Guadalcanal Province as well as departmental directors are attending a-week long Media Awareness Training from 14 – 18 May 2018 at the Rove Police Headquarters in Honiara.
Provincial Police Commander (PPC) Honiara City, Chief Superintendent Alfred Uiga officially opened the training.
“I am honoured to officially open this five-day Media Awareness Workshop and look forward to learning a lot from it,” says PPC Uiga.
He adds: “Media is a non-police function, which was never taught in the RSIPF Academy but we must realise that we never too old to learn new things.”
“I encourage you officers who are privileged attend this awareness training to make sure you utilise this opportunity to learn about the power of the media to market the RSIPF,” says PPC Uiga.
He says, “Through the media our people will know about the work that the RSIPF is doing in Honiara and the other provinces. This is because the work of police is financed by the country’s tax payers.”
PPC Uiga 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.”
The participants of the workshop are the two PPCs’ for Honiara and Guadalcanal Province, and their senior officers, three Directors of RSIPF Departments as well as senior representatives the other Departments and Divisions within the RSIPF.
During the Media Awareness Training participants will be 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. The participants will also do field visits to media organisations in Honiara.
At the end of the Training participants will be expected to produce several media releases covering reports of crime as part of getting the feel of media writing.
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, Taro, Lata and Tulagi Police Stations. It is expected the last workshop will be held for officers of the Rennell and Bellona Province by the end of this month, May.