Abidjan, 12 October 2009... Twenty Ivorian police officers, including five women, newly-appointed to the technical and scientific police directorate, are taking part in a training course on the management of crime scenes, organized by the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) since Monday, in Sebroko.

For three weeks, the police officers will be trained on techniques and management of a crime scene through theoretical courses and practical cases.

The Chief of the Reform and Restructuration Cell of UNOCI police, Awale Abdounasir, stressed the importance of the collection and examination of trails and clues. "It is good to catch a thief, but you have to prove his guilt", he said, inviting the participants to use all the necessary mechanism, rigour and patience in order to present the proof of guilt. "Modules are at your disposal to increase your knowledge in these topics and become experts in scientific technique", said Mr. Awale.

The Director of judicial identification, Police Division Commissioner, Francois Bah, urged the trainees to attend the course regularly because the knowledge that they will gain during the training can be passed on to other police officers. He expressed his gratitude to UNOCI for the excellent collaboration between his department and UNOCI's police, initiated since November 2007.

The training includes several modules from the methodology of technical investigation to practice on specific crime scenes and the use of scientific kits.

In the last two years, UNOCI has trained three groups of 100 Ivorian police officers on techniques of crime scene management and donated equipment to the scientific police.