Early next year, the Police Academy of Cambodia will send 20 police headteachers to India to undergo six months of training in forensic autopsy to strengthen the capacities of Cambodian police.
The training programme comes after Academy director Seng Phally led a delegation from December 16-21 to India’s Gujarat Forensic Sciences University, one of the world’s leading universities in forensic science.
Upon his return on Monday, Phally said the Police Academy, through an international collaboration with the university, will bolster the development of police officers’ investigative skills.
The Academy had also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the university to facilitate exchange visits among professors, research officials, students and trainees, and the introduction of new technologies related to scientific research and police training.
“The Indian government has allowed 20 Cambodian police teachers to undergo a six-month training in 2020.
“The training course will cover a wide array of fields, particularly cybersecurity, cybercrime investigation, digital forensics, explosive detection, forensic drug testing, food forensics and toxicology, personality and character development, forensic psychology and forensic documentation,” said Phally.
Phally noted that the programme will focus on all areas covered by forensic science, cybersecurity and criminal investigation to meet the needs of the Kingdom’s criminal justice system.
Academy deputy director Svay Chanda said on Monday that the training programme had already been organised.
“We’ve already made preparations for the programme. The government of India has also agreed to the initiative,” said Chanda.
Battambang provincial Department of Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection chief Bon Vannara commended the programme. He said the current forensic police officials have yet to catch up with technological innovations in the field.
“Until now, we rely on testimonies of witnesses and some pieces of evidence that can be seen with the naked eye to investigate crimes. We still cannot carry out forensic autopsies using new technologies nor investigate cases of sexual assault with the use of DNA technology,” said Vannara.