Regional Hub Not For Brutal Officers

The Hub Manager of the Gbarnga Regional Justice and Security Hub Samuel Barbay Gaye says the hub will not be a center for those who inflict wounds on peaceful citizens.

Mr. Gaye noted that the concept of the hub is to discourage behaviors of the dark days in Liberia when security personnel rained mayhem and other abuses on the very people they claimed to be protecting.

According to him, the regional justice and security hub is intended to dishearten the mindset that security personnel can cause any form of abuses and go scout free, suggesting that this time, community dwellers must immensely benefit from the hub’s operations.

He admonished residents to make proper use of the Public Service Office in complaining personnel or justice actor who goes against the public, noting that with substantial evidences, the relevant authorities will take the recourse of the law.

Mr. Samuel Barbay Gaye spoke last Wednesday at the first bi-monthly press briefing of the Public Service Office of the hub to provide update on the Justice and Security Regional Hub, as well as security, justice and judicial situation within the hub’s region.

Also briefing the press was the Police Commander of the Bong County Police Detachment, who lauded the increased community support to the operations of the police.

Col. Morris Teaman underscored that the maintenance of peace in Liberia can be successful based on the role of citizens as it relates to the process of reporting crimes in their respective communities. He disclosed that the strength of the Bong County Police detachment is one hundred and ninety-three officers, including fourteen females and one hundred seventy nine males.

Panelists at the regional hub’s maiden press briefing were Police Support Unit regional superintendent Leon Gibson, Police Commander Col. Morris Teaman, County Attorney Cllr. Juma Karnlay and the Resident Judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court His Honor, Boimah Kontoe. 

When completed, the Gbarnga Regional Justice and Security Hub will serve citizens of Lofa, Nimba and Bong Counties in terms of beefing up security in the region as UNMIL prepares to draw down its mission in the country.

It will host one hundred twenty members of the Police Support Unit of the Liberia National Police, who will quickly respond to emergencies and conduct patrols in remote towns and villages in the three counties.

It will host forty immigration officers who will respond to border situations, as well as a number of judicial institutions, including the Magisterial Court, Circuit Court and office of the City Solicitor. The project is being supported by the Liberia Peace-Building Program with its cost put at LD$4m.