Minneapolis metro transit chief shares tips with AMISOM Police

AMISOM Police Commissioner Anand Pillay [left] briefs Metro Transit Police Chief, John Harrington, during a visit to Mogadishu, Somalia. AMISOM Police’s Public Information Officer Ediwn Mugera [right] speaks at a meeting attended by John Harrington, during his visit to Mogadishu, Somalia, in order to establish closer relations between the two police forces. AMISOM PHOTOS - OMAR ABDISALAN

Saturday, August 1, 2015

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MOGADISHU Somalia (AMISOM) -- Minneapolis Metro Transit Police Chief John Harrington is in Somalia to learn and share policing experiences with the Somali Police Force (SPF) and the police component of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

Harrington held a meeting with the AMISOM Police Commissioner Anand Pillay at the AMISOM Police Headquarters in Mogadishu today, where the two discussed how they can use their unique experiences to address common service delivery and insecurity challenges between Minneapolis and Mogadishu.

Speaking to the media after a meeting with Pillay, Harrington said he hoped his five visit to Somalia who result in closer ties between the two countries.

Minneapolis which is the largest city in the state of Minnesota, is inhabited by the biggest Somali community in the United States of America.

"I was encouraged to make the visit to Mogadishu and Somalia to get a better understanding of the community and meet with the local police to discuss community policing and how we approach policing in the twin cities and hopefully I can learn from their experiences here how I can best police my community and hopefully I can provide some insights on what has worked for us," said Harrington.

AMISOM Police Commissioner said:

"This morning we had a meeting with Mr. John Harrington the chief of police from the Minnesota Police in the US and he paid us a courtesy visit.

"All he wanted to do is to find out the policing activities and AMISOM police involvement in establishing or assisting the Somali Police Force in establishing them as a police organization in Somalia.

"He also wanted to know what we are doing in terms of our mandate which is basically institutional as well as the individual capacity development as well as providing operational support to Somali Police Force.

"We touched on our efforts to help us establish policing in Somalia and our activities in establishing them as a police organization in this country.

"Our efforts, training activities, mentoring as well as support we provide in assisting them build confidence in Somalia."

The visiting Police Chief noted that shared experiences was important in understanding how to manage complex situations, especially now that intelligence reports show increasing cases of young Somalis in America and other countries trying to join terrorist organizations.

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