Tourist police undergo training ahead of festive season

Tourist police patrol Plaza beach in Mombasa.[File, Standard] 

Tourism Police Unit (TPU) officers at the Coast are undergoing training on handling tourists ahead of the festive season.

Coast TPU commander Charity Wangui said the officers would have a busy festive season and there was need to train them how to handle tourists expected to throng the Coast.

The training, funded by the Tourism Fund, will provide officers with crime prevention strategies and ensure the rights of arrested individuals, particularly foreign nationals.

"The numbers at the airport, Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) trains, and PSV buses suggest that a good number of tourists, local and foreign, are making their way to Mombasa and the Coast at large hence we will not have a better time than now to retool our officers," said Wangui.

More than 100 officers were trained on the Tourism Act, witness and suspect interrogation, and psychological sensitization, among other areas to improve the handling of suspects.

Tourism Fund Levy Compliance Manager Edward Kisali said the induction programme will benefit the sector ahead of the festive season.

"The training is running within three counties -Mombasa, Nakuru, and Nairobi- where we expect a large number of tourists in this holiday season," said Kisali.

He said as the public begin the festive season officers will be on the lookout for possible security threats.

The training will boost the officers knowledge in investigations, psychological sensitisation, fraud detection, and crime prevention.