The Director Prosecution SSP Vakacegu Toduadua is the latest Fiji Police officer to graduate from a 10 week Federal Bureau of Investigation course.

The 253rd session of the FBI National Academy was held in Quantico, Virginia from April to mid June. The National Academy is a 10-week leadership and management training program hosted by the FBI.

The session consisted of law enforcement professionals from the United States and from across the world offering advanced investigative, management and fitness training for officers.

SSP Toduadua graduated with a Diploma in Leadership in Law Enforcement joining a list of only a handful of Fiji Police officers to graduate from the FBI National Academy.

The ten week course covers areas in criminal intelligence, executive leadership, community policing, interviewing strategies, resolving conflict, law enforcement networking, and intelligence led operations.

SSP Toduadua was the only representative from Pacific Island countries among the over 200 course participants from across the globe. With crime now transcending our borders the course was timely as it gave an opportunity for the Fiji Police to network with other law enforcement agencies.

“Crimes are now more sophisticated and technological advances mean crimes can be committed from one’s home and executed in another part of the world and this is why we have to improve networking with other law enforcement agencies”.

“Criminals are constantly changing their modus operandi and as law enforcers we need to be aware of that, which is why the 10 week course was a real eye opener”, adds SSP Toduadua.

SSP Toduadua says intelligence driven operation is now the way forward for most law enforcement agencies.

“Intelligence driven operation and investigations is very important and we saw that when we visited various Policing districts in the United States”.

“The collation and storage of information is vital. Crimes can easily be solved with a click of a button and this is further strengthened through networking thoroughly amongst the policing districts”, he added.

The head of Fiji Police Force’s Prosecution Department says fitness is also an integral component in the FBI’s line of work.

“Over the 10 weeks I was there, we had a Required Fitness Level (RFL) test per week and it’s one of the requirements of the course”.

“RFL’s is still a fairly new concept for us officers here in Fiji, but it’s not for other police jurisdictions because they realize that attaining maximum operational effectiveness relies largely on the health status of our officers”.

Another concept taught during the 10 week course was the importance of training according the needs of the various communities they serve.

“This is something the Fiji Police has been implementing whereby training should be aligned to the needs of for example the Western Division which is different from the needs of the Northern Division”.

“So likewise training should be conducted according to the needs of various divisions, such as economic factors and its impending challenges on the criminal front”, said SSP Toduadua.

While the FBI is undoubtedly one of the world’s leading law enforcement agencies, it was encouraging to note that Fiji is going in the right direction in as far as crime fighting strategies.

“The Fiji Police may not have the policing aids that the FBI has, but I was proud of the fact that as a participant amongst other leading law enforcement agencies Fiji was on track with what was being taught during the course”.

Commissioner of Police Brigadier General Ioane Naivalurua in welcoming SSP Toduadua back says getting the opportunity to send officers to such an elite training school is an opportunity not to be wasted.

“SSP Toduadua has learnt a lot from the 10 week course and we will now make sure he implements the necessary changes needed to help improve and achieve our level of operational effectiveness in achieving our vision and mission of becoming a “Force of the Nation in 2014”.

“This is all in line with our strategies in learning from other jurisdictions and it is encouraging to hear that we are heading in the right direction and knowing that we are doing the basics right is very encouraging”, adds Brig-General Naivalurua.

POLICE RELEASE

The Director Prosecution SSP Vakacegu Toduadua is the latest Fiji Police officer to graduate from a 10 week Federal Bureau of Investigation course.

The 253rd session of the FBI National Academy was held in Quantico, Virginia from April to mid June. The National Academy is a 10-week leadership and management training program hosted by the FBI.

The session consisted of law enforcement professionals from the United States and from across the world offering advanced investigative, management and fitness training for officers.

SSP Toduadua graduated with a Diploma in Leadership in Law Enforcement joining a list of only a handful of Fiji Police officers to graduate from the FBI National Academy.

The ten week course covers areas in criminal intelligence, executive leadership, community policing, interviewing strategies, resolving conflict, law enforcement networking, and intelligence led operations.

SSP Toduadua was the only representative from Pacific Island countries among the over 200 course participants from across the globe. With crime now transcending our borders the course was timely as it gave an opportunity for the Fiji Police to network with other law enforcement agencies.

“Crimes are now more sophisticated and technological advances mean crimes can be committed from one’s home and executed in another part of the world and this is why we have to improve networking with other law enforcement agencies”.

“Criminals are constantly changing their modus operandi and as law enforcers we need to be aware of that, which is why the 10 week course was a real eye opener”, adds SSP Toduadua.

SSP Toduadua says intelligence driven operation is now the way forward for most law enforcement agencies.

“Intelligence driven operation and investigations is very important and we saw that when we visited various Policing districts in the United States”.

“The collation and storage of information is vital. Crimes can easily be solved with a click of a button and this is further strengthened through networking thoroughly amongst the policing districts”, he added.

The head of Fiji Police Force’s Prosecution Department says fitness is also an integral component in the FBI’s line of work.

“Over the 10 weeks I was there, we had a Required Fitness Level (RFL) test per week and it’s one of the requirements of the course”.

“RFL’s is still a fairly new concept for us officers here in Fiji, but it’s not for other police jurisdictions because they realize that attaining maximum operational effectiveness relies largely on the health status of our officers”.

Another concept taught during the 10 week course was the importance of training according the needs of the various communities they serve.

“This is something the Fiji Police has been implementing whereby training should be aligned to the needs of for example the Western Division which is different from the needs of the Northern Division”.

“So likewise training should be conducted according to the needs of various divisions, such as economic factors and its impending challenges on the criminal front”, said SSP Toduadua.

While the FBI is undoubtedly one of the world’s leading law enforcement agencies, it was encouraging to note that Fiji is going in the right direction in as far as crime fighting strategies.

“The Fiji Police may not have the policing aids that the FBI has, but I was proud of the fact that as a participant amongst other leading law enforcement agencies Fiji was on track with what was being taught during the course”.

Commissioner of Police Brigadier General Ioane Naivalurua in welcoming SSP Toduadua back says getting the opportunity to send officers to such an elite training school is an opportunity not to be wasted.

“SSP Toduadua has learnt a lot from the 10 week course and we will now make sure he implements the necessary changes needed to help improve and achieve our level of operational effectiveness in achieving our vision and mission of becoming a “Force of the Nation in 2014”.

“This is all in line with our strategies in learning from other jurisdictions and it is encouraging to hear that we are heading in the right direction and knowing that we are doing the basics right is very encouraging”, adds Brig-General Naivalurua.

POLICE RELEASE