PSD celebrates International Women’s Day with ceremony honouring female officers

AMMAN — Police Chief Maj. Gen. Fadel Hmoud on Saturday praised the distinguished role policewomen play for their community and country.

"Our female officers have proven their ability in performing their duties in the utmost professional and technical manner, and they are a source of pride for everyone," Hmoud said.

The police chief added that "our policewomen have also proven their abilities locally and internationally by developing their capabilities and skills to excel in their work and duties".

Hmoud's remarks were made during a ceremony to celebrate International Women's Day at the Armed Forces Hotel in Tabarbour.

The event, which was held by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Public Security Department (PSD), was supported by the government of Japan and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. 

UNDP Resident Representative Sara Ferrer-Olivella told the female law enforcement personnel who were present at the ceremony: "Be proud of the communities you serve. Be proud of who you are. And know how proud we are of you!"

"Qualified, well-capacitated, professional women in community policing is a vision we share with the PSD, and towards this vision, we start our journey by proudly collaborating on a mapping of community policing in Jordan," Ferrer-Olivella said.

The mapping, Ferrer-Olivella added, will identify best practices and achievements to help "highlight opportunities in community policing as well as identifying the role and needs of women".

During the three-hour event, Hmoud honoured the families of officers who had died on duty, and policewomen who played a pivotal and effective role in promoting the safety of their communities.

Head of Programmes and Deputy Resident Representative at UNDP Majida Al Assaf reiterated the organisation's commitment to support the PSD and other local NGOs in Jordan to achieve the 2030 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). 

Assaf said that her organisation was focused on goal numbers five, 11 and 16.

SDG number five focuses on achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls, while eliminating all forms of violence against them. 

The PSD's role in this SDG is to "prevent and investigate violence against women and girls", Assaf stressed.

Assaf said the role of the PSD in goal 11, which covers the safety of cities and access to public spaces, is to ensure crime prevention and investigation.

Assaf added that SDG 16 calls for the promotion of peaceful societies and access to justice, while the "relevance for the PSD here is to ensure crime prevention and investigation while providing legal information at police stations".

"We aim to work with the PSD to ensure the implementation of the SDGs by ensuring the participation of female community police officers in the mapping consultations, along with other activities and projects," Assaf said.