New senior inspector rank ‘an opportunity for police officers’

NAMIBIAN Police deputy inspector general for administration Anna-Marie Nainda says the newly introduced rank of senior inspector will provide greater opportunities for junior officers to advance in the police.

The newly created rank falls between that of chief inspector and inspector.

“From a command perspective, I think it will really have a positive impact on the new structure,” Nainda has told The Namibian.

The post was necessitated by the pay disparity that exists between the positions of inspector and chief inspector, Nainda said, and will provide an opportunity particularly to officers who may have furthered their studies.

Last week, the Namibian Police released a list of 226 female police officers to be promoted to new ranks, including 21 senior inspectors.

These officers were promoted between September 2022 and July 2023, when police inspector general Joseph Shikongo took over from retired police chief Sebastian Ndeitunga.

“What we are trying to do is add this new rank to make it a ladder, to include a bigger number of officers in terms of progress,” Nainda said.

She also said the police are focusing more on staff development, as well as issues of employee satisfaction.

“The Namibian Police force structure has a very strong element of hierarchy. For you to be promoted, there must be a vacancy. It is not just promotion randomly,” she noted.

Nainda said each level has a specific number of ranks, and there is an effect requiring all levels to advance at the same time.

There are a number of other requirements for promotion in terms of the police’s promotion policy, which is based on two streams.

“One is based on academic achievement, and the other is based on merit, and sometimes it can be both. It also depends on the vacancies,” Nainda said.

“That’s why you see if you are in a set-up where you have an element of younger commanders in that structure.”

The rank of senior inspector was created last year and will come into effect on 1 August this year.

So far, 51 officers have been promoted to senior inspectors, including 21 women.

In April, the media reported that the new rank would cost the police at least N$18,9 million a year for the 51 promoted officers.

The position comes with an annual salary scale between N$337 983 and N$403 922.