The Rivers State Commissioner of Police, CP Olatunji Disu, has assured residents of the state that there would be a complete end to accidental discharge incidents in the state.

Speaking at the Arms Handling and Musketry competition held at the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) Training School in Nonwa, Tai Local Council of the state, yesterday, Disu said the training was in line with the vision of the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, to train and retrain officers for efficient service delivery.

Disu, who noted that the three weeks training had operatives trained in arms handling and musketry, urged residents to believe that incidents of accidental discharge would soon be a thing of the past in the state.

He said: “We are here to witness the training that has been going on for the past three weeks. The officers have been here to do what they have been doing annually to brush our professionalism in arms training and arms handling. Today we have concluded the training exercise.

“Arms handling is one of the most important aspects of policing because it has to do with life and death. During the course of this training, we have taught them safety and control; and how they should handle their firearms. Our firearms are important tools of our trade, so we will ensure that we train our officers again and again.”

Disu added that the operatives were taught the most important law of firearms handling, which is in the Fourth Order 237, which stipulates when the police officer can deploy firearms.

He also harped on the need to build trust between the police and members of the public to promote security in the state.

“Most importantly, we need to build trust between us and the community. Those we are protecting know that we are proficient with the firearms that we are carrying. We do not want people running away from us because we are carrying firearms. We want them to know that they have been trained to handle their firearms.

“We also want to reduce that recurring language of accidental discharge. I can assure you that with the level of training the officers have undergone for the past three weeks, that will be a thing of the past,” he noted.

Speaking on the dilapidated state of the training school, Disu expressed optimism that the Inspector General of Police would refurbish police training schools in the country.

“The IGP has said again and again that he has the intention of repairing all police training institutes and I have had a visitation from the IGP to see what we have here and he has assured us that in the nearest future, this place will be put to better use,” he said.

The high point of the event was the presentation of awards to officers who came tops in blindfolded stripping and assembling of rifles and long-range shooting by the Police Commissioner.