* L-R: Second in Command Special Investigation Bureau, Airport Police Command, Mr. Olatunji Olayinka; Director of Engineering, Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Engr. Hashim Wali; Director/CEO Aeroavsec, Capt. Bello Ocheja; Commissioner/CEO AIB, Engr. Akin Olateru; Head Aviation Security, AIB, Mr. Olumide Oshinye and Unit Command Special Protecting Unit AIB, Mr. Salas S. Tsado, during the Aviation Security Training for Airport Command Policemen at AIB Safety House, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos
As part of efforts to ensure that aircraft site is secured in the event of an accident, the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has trained the first batch of 20 Police Officers at its headquarters at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos.
The two –day training of police officers would also help create awareness for Police across the country on the importance of securing crash sites.
AIB explained that the second batch of the training is scheduled to commence in Abuja in a week’s time, adding that with the training of the officers, the era of tampering with accident investigative evidences was over.
Speaking shortly after successfully training the officers, the General Manger, Security and Industries,AIB, Mr. Olumide Osineye, who coordinated the training, said that the exercise would further enhance the performance of accident investigators in AIB in the event of an accident.
Osineye said that the decision to train Police officers was the brainchild of the Commissioner of AIB, Engr. Akin Olateru, who according to him insisted that police officers must be adequately trained to support its air accident investigation.
Osineye stated that the training was put together to provide the aviation security awareness to police officers and also to explain the roles of the police at aircraft accident sites.
The training, he said cut across police officers attached to the Airport Police Command and also those at the Special Protection Unit at Ikeja deployed to AIB.
The General Manager said that the team would be a part of the AIB’s team in case of any accident, as first responders to move to the accident sites to give the investigative team the necessary support especially in controlling evidences.
According to him, “When an accident occurs, the wreckage is a very important entity and there are items of the aircraft that need to be preserved. Experience has shown that most of our police officers are just pulled from anywhere without any background or awareness on accident investigation.The danger is that when you are not aware, you will just do to the best of your limits, but when you are aware, you know the rudiments, you know the procedures and what should be avoided, protected and preserved.”
“The main benefit is that this category of people will be able to control an accident site so that there will not be any tampering with the evidences or critical items like the Flight Data Recorder and Voice Data Recorder and other relevant items that can help in investigation of an accident,”he added.
He assured that the exercise would be conducted quarterly while efforts would be made to ensure that majority of the police officers in the country were trained.
He added that in case of redeployment it would still be an added advantage to the industry as accident could occur anywhere within the country without prior notice.
“Even when they are redeployed, it is still going to be a value added because accident can occur anywhere at any location and without telling you. So, the more we train, the more we add value and the more we increase the number of people who already have awareness. If it is possible to let all the police to have the awareness, that will be fantastic,”he said.
The first batch saw the training of eight police officers from airports Command while another 12 were drawn from Special Unit Base 2 of the Ikeja Police Command.
