President inaugurates Addu police academy

The Institute of Security and Law Enforcement Studies has been opened in Addu City with the assistance of India.

The training center was inaugurated by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Minister of External Affairs of India Dr. S Jaishankar.

The project was built at a cost of USD 18 million by the Indian government. According to the Maldivian police, the police training academy will be the best police academy to be established in the region.

Resources included in the Academy:

- High quality accommodation blocks/clinics.

- PT Ground, Helipad and Training Centre.

- A gym with a capacity of 800 people, a football stadium, a basketball court and a tennis court

- 400-meter track and 340-man auditorium

- Classrooms with a capacity of catering to for 320 students

The contractor for the Police Academy is Sri Avantika Contractors Limited of India. The company started works for this project in 2017.

Although the Police Academy was established with the grant assistance of the Indian government, administration and authorities to related matters will be carried out by the Maldivian police.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Commissioner of Police Mohamed Hameed thanked India for developing a state-of-the-art academy in the Maldives.

Noting the relations between Maldives and India, CP Hameed said the center will facilitate the further development of the skills of The Maldives Police Service. He said that even if there were many issues in the investigative work of the police in the past, such difficulties would be resolved with the center.

"It's a great pleasure to see this day. I have been in the police service for a long time and have seen the changes in the police service closely. There have been many difficulties in investigation the past," Hameed said.

Hameed expressed hope that good training will be conducted there in collaboration with the police and other enforcement agencies in the Maldives.

While 300 police officers were working under Home Affairs, there are now 10 times more police officers in the institution.

Police training was initially held in Kaaf atoll Girifushi and Himmafushi, but will now be held at the police academy.