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Skills have been sharpened at the metro
police, with officers trained in combating terrorist financing, money
laundering and drug smuggling, among other crimes.
OFFICERS from the Johannesburg metro police department (JMPD)
have received FBI training in combating terrorist financing and money
laundering.
Some 20 officers from the City's metro
police attended a five-day course run by FBI specialists at the beginning of
March. They were joined by another 20 colleagues from the South African Police
Service, Tshwane metro police department and Ekurhuleni metro police
department.
The training was, in part, in preparation
for the expected influx of visitors travelling to the country to attend the
2010 FIFA World Cup™.
JMPD spokesperson Edna Mamonyane, who attended
the sessions, said that because of the huge number of visitors expected, the
department saw the training as an opportunity to be prepared for any
eventuality. "So we will be able to deal with such cases when they arise."
Training involved how to identify and then
deal with cases of money laundering for financing acts of terror. "Criminals [may]
see this event as an opportunity to attack."
This was not the first time JMPD officers had
received training from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States'
law enforcement agency, Mamonyane said. "Some of our officers went to the US for training."
Among the crime-fighting tactics covered
were dealing with drug-smuggling and drug busts, conducting interviews and
interrogations, and street survival. Other officers attended the FBI Academy
- the International Law Enforcement
Academy - which is set up in Botswana.
The relationship between South African law
enforcement teams and the US's
top crime investigation team started when Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton were the
respective presidents of South Africa
and the US
in the mid 1990s. "They both saw the need for South Africa to meet international
standards," Mamonyane said.
The co-operation plan was facilitated by
the US embassy in Pretoria.
In the latest training undertaken by the
JMPD, Mamonyane said the week-long course was normally run over three weeks, so
it required hard work from every individual attending.
"It was hard work to fit everything in the
week, but it taught us, as colleagues, that even though we work at different
offices, we do the same thing and that we should work as a team. If any of the
things that we were trained in should occur we should be able to call each
other."
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