15427/01GAZETTE & HERALD: KENYAN police commander George Kinoti was helping to keep Chippenham's streets safe last Thursday as part of a international approach to tackling crime in the county.

Mr Kinoti, 37, was one of eight police commanders from across the world who were welcomed by Wiltshire police as part of a week's fact finding.

He was among officers from Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Botswana, St Kitts and Nevis and India, who are all currently training at the world-renowned police training and development authority Centrex in Bramshill, Hampshire.

Mr Kinoti, who is personal assistant to the Director of Kenyan CID, deals with crimes including armed robberies, drugs and murder.

He said crime rates in his country were relatively high, mostly due to people coming from the war-torn neighbouring countries of Sudan and Uganda.

Mr Kinoti, who is married with two children, said he hoped to be able to take his newly-learned skills home and apply them in Kenya.

"I'm very impressed with policing in Britain," he said. "Kenyans would be shocked if they came here. The policing system of having strategies and planning has paid dividends. It is very important we try to implement the same thing in Kenya. We are looking forward to a bright future."

He said Kenya's force were stretched, with one policeman to every 1,000 people. That equates to around half the amount of officers in Chippenham at any one time.

Mr Kinoti, who was on his first trip to England, said Kenya could not

afford high-tech devices such as CCTV. "These gadgets are very expensive," he said. "We could not afford the equipment or to train the people to man them."

The International Commanders Programme (ICP) is a ten-week intensive programme that prepares international police commanders for the strategic ranks.

Close relations with British police have been built up as

part of the programme which

allows officers to observe first hand all aspects of operational policing including major incident room co-ordination, community partnerships and forensics.

Wiltshire's Chief Constable Martin Richards said:

"From firearms training to community policing techniques, we hope to provide the officers with an in-depth insight into the work and skills of the British police. I am sure we will all learn a great deal which will allow us to explore policing from an international perspective."

Special role in community

HAIRDRESSER Jane Taylor wants other young people to follow her lead and become someone special in their community.

She is one of a number of young people who give some of their spare time to serving in the Wiltshire Constabulary Specials.

The Wiltshire force has launched a new Specials recruitment pack to help those who are interested in joining up.

It coincides with the start of a new recruitment campaign, which kicks off on February 28 and runs until March 11.

Ms Taylor joined the Special Constabulary in November and is based in Marlborough.

Before she joined up she thought she would be involved in very routine duties. However Ms Taylor has found that her duties are really varied.

She said she found all the staff, including the full-time officers and other specials based at Marlborough police station were very supportive.

Anyone interested in finding out more should contact the recruitment department on (01380) 734066.