New Zealand Police Inspector Marty Edghill was among those who welcomed President Hamid Karzai to a graduation ceremony at the Bamyan Regional Police Training Centre (BRPTC) in Afghanistan yesterday.
Inspector Edghill is the senior training advisor at the centre. He and another New Zealand police officer are part of the International Police Training Programme being run at the BRPTC. Their nine-month secondment is being funded by New Zealand’s international aid and development agency, NZAID.
Yesterday’s graduation saw 41 students complete a five-week Basic Police Officer Course – the second to be delivered at the BRPTC so far.
Inspector Edghill said the course was designed to help Bamyan Province improve its policing service so that officers could help foster Afghanistan’s emerging civil society. The course content included training in internationally accepted democratic policing principles and human rights.
"It was an honour for both the trainers and the students to have President Karzai attend the graduation and show his support for what we are achieving," he said.
In total, nearly 290 students have trained at the BRPTC since it opened in September 2004 with most learning the basic literacy skills necessary for further police training.
ENDS Photos available on website – www.police.govt.nz