United States Government has trained 66 officers of the Nigeria Police Force on fingerprint analysis and forensics.

The training is to modernise the crime-fighting abilities and enhance the skills of the officers on evidence collection.

The two weeks training, organised by the U.S. Embassy, the Atlanta Police Department and the Nigeria police rounded off with an award ceremony in Abuja.

Director, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement,INL, at the embassy, Rosalyn Wiese said the training was an opportunity for officials to learn how to properly collect and document latent fingerprints.

Weise said the Latent Fingerprint Examination course was one of INL’s programmes designed to build capacity in the Nigeria police.

According to her, along with more complex courses in crime scene management, INL seeks to support the NPF’s desire to strengthen forensic capabilities to modernise its crime-fighting abilities.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Hyacinth Dagala, said the training was coming at “an apt time where we are moving from analogue to digital policing”.

Dagala was represented by the Commissioner of Police in charge of Administration, Moses Jitoboh, saying technology had taken over policing in different forms and the importance of forensics cannot be downplayed.

According to him, aspects of modern policing include intelligence gathering, technology and experience.

He also expressed his gratitude to the U.S. Government for its commitment to promoting security in Nigeria through the training of officials.

Police Public Relations Officer, Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, Chike Nwabuwa, said the force was working with relevant agencies to collate and effectively access the biodata of Nigerians.

Nwabuwa said easy access to accurate biodata of Nigerians would give relevance to the training received and evidence collection at crime scenes by officials.