GRSP and JH-IIRU Deliver First In-Person Road Policing Executive Leadership Course
A total of 37 road policing officers and police leaders from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Uganda, and Romania attended the second Road Policing Executive Leadership Course 2022 (RPELC), offered through the Global Road Safety Leadership Course (GRSLC) suite of programmes.
This year’s RPELC was the first in-person course and was jointly delivered in October in Nairobi, Kenya, by the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) and Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit (JH-IIRU), with the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS).
The six-day course showcased evidence-based road policing material developed by GRSP’s Road Policing experts, in line with the cultural context of the attendees. Topics included current road safety trends, leadership principles, the role of enforcement in the Safe System approach, deterrence theory, legitimacy in policing, tasking and coordination, data collection, intelligence-led road policing, case studies, and the strategic alignment of mass media and public awareness campaigns with enforcement.
“We are extremely grateful for the opportunity to have attended this course. The content was well-researched and relevant to our different situations at home,” explained SP Boniface Otieno, a member of the Kenya Police Service and a dedicated participant.
The course also included a virtual conference conducted by Senior Transport Development Expert David Niyonsenga, member of the African Union, in which he discussed the road safety context in Africa and the role of the African Road Safety Observatory (ARSO). Transport Specialist Arif Uddin, from the Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) of the World Bank, also virtually joined as a presenter and outlined the intersection between enforcement and infrastructure improvements.
Participants were allocated into breakout working groups of seven throughout the course. This encouraged them to cultivate an atmosphere of camaraderie while brainstorming, collaborating, and sharing their own experiences.
With the aim of providing hands-on exercises, the RPELC offered a practical speeding and drink driving enforcement field activity in collaboration with the Kenya Police Service (KPS). GRSP’s Road Policing experts and KPS officers guided participants through a circuit of activities relevant to this type of enforcement operation.
“After this week, we will have some true champions from the policing community in these countries that we are working in. They will be able to effect real change on the ground and be leaders in their own jurisdictions. They will take home practical knowledge that they will be able to apply to their day-to-day jobs,” noted the Director of the JH-IIRU, Professor Abdul Bachani.
“We know that leadership in all walks of life makes an enormous difference. Leading and motivating people and explaining what works and what doesn’t work are critical features of road safety,” said GRSP’s CEO Dave Cliff. “Through changing road policing practice, we can make a difference, particularly in low- and middle-income countries in which the BIGRS is operating.”
GRSP and JH-IIRU’s staff congratulate all participants for the professionalism and enthusiasm they demonstrated throughout the week. Further, we extend our gratitude to the BIGRS for the support in the second delivery of the RPELC. We look forward to continue engaging with policing leaders in BIGRS countries to support the strengthening of road policing activities.
