The Director of Criminal Investigations (CID), AIGP Tom Magambo, has warned officers who refuse to go for refresher courses that they will face tough Disciplinary action.

He issued the warning at the CID headquarters in Kibuli, Kampala, on Sunday while addressing 70 District CID officers heading for Kabalye Police Training School in Masindi District for a three-month training.

The officers, who are at the rank of Detective Assistant Superintendent of Police (DASP), will undergo an induction and ideological development course.

Magambo, told the officers that training personnel was important and was one of his key priorities to enhance performance.

“I want to thank President Yoweri Museveni and the Police Leadership who are supporting these training programmes for CID.

He noted that a few CID officers perceive training courses as a punishment and have been rejecting offers to go for them at Kabalye and Kasenyi.

“So, when I hear an ASP (Assistant Superintendent of Police) we have sent to Kabalye saying he can’t go for training when all senior leaders have undergone courses in 2022, that becomes an issue. That is the indiscipline we are talking about,” Magambo said.

He explained that training courses are meant to refresh their minds to perform their functions and duties well.

He also told the officers that these courses are meant to prepare them to be part of the vanguards of the socio-economic transformation of Ugandans.

Magambo, who has made one year in the office having been appointed on January 25, said training is not a punishment as many perceive it.

“Training is normal for growth in the forces,” he said, citing an example of the Jinja Road CID officer who mismanaged the supervision of a case involving an alleged rape of a Latvian tourist, which he said had the potential of damaging Uganda’s image and tourism and as such affecting the country’s resource envelope.

Last year, over 4,000 detectives were internally transferred in the process of reforming CID and these included 200 gazetted and 3,800 non-gazetted officers.

Magambo said some of the transferred officers had overstayed at their stations some up to 28 years and had run out of steam hence the need for fresh challenges.