The outgoing Programme Director of the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA), Mr Joseph Augeri, has been hailed as a visionary leader.

Speaking at a farewell dinner hosted in his honour to mark the end of his five year contract in Gaborone yesterday (10/02/2022), Deputy Commissioner, Support Services, Mr Phemelo Ramakorwane, described Mr Augeri as a true representative of his country, the United States of America. He applauded him for his unwavering commitment in carrying out his duties as the Academy Programme Director.

He added that Mr Augeri worked relentlessly to grow law enforcement partnerships regionally and globally, thus making it easy for countries to fight crime. Deputy Commissioner said the Programme Director also promoted the existing bilateral relations between the government of Botswana and the United States of America.

“Looking at the performance of the Academy, it use to deliver 16 courses annually, but during Mr Augeri’s tenure he managed to double it and delivered 40 programmes in the same period, owing to his commitment to the Academy’s vision”, he observed.
Deputy Commissioner said that the Academy managed to conduct many programmes virtually without so many interruptions it held 38 programmes despite challenges posed by Covid -19 pandemic.

For his part, Mr Joseph Augeri thanked Botswana Police Service for welcoming him to be part of the ILEA team. He said the Academy’s success was as a result of hardwork exhibited by the Botswana team led by the Managing Director Mr Maseng Mathiba and the entire workforce.

“To close identified gaps in training, ILEA introduced transcontinental programming whereby countries were grouped according to their languages and common crime challenges such as human trafficking, drug trafficking and poaching. This ensured maximum understanding and development of relevant strategies”, he added.
He pointed out that after training, operations around the globe yielded positive results with a substantial number of arrests and confiscations of products of illegal trades.

The event was attended by Deputy Commissioner Crime Investigations, Mr Busang Lesola, some BPS senior officials and some officials from the American Embassy, including Deputy Program Director Mr Steve Schapper and the Assistant Regional Security Officer, Mr John Huey.