More issues with the po-po

This was an email from the coordinator in Sierra Leone in response to an event that occured while we were in Sierra Leone. Several students were "requested" to come to the police station because they had reports that white people were taking pictures of government buildings in Kenema approximately three hours earlier. We did not take pictures of government buildings (at least, not on purpose) and we were not the people reported to the police because we were not in the area when the event occurred. However, we were easy scapgoats.

There was an imprompt meeting between the students, Dr *** and I, the reason been that is the students were taking pictures of some government, building and other areas, in that process, a police intelligent officer by the name of Mr *** who was the same man who met them the last time at the Pastorial centre with the immigration officer few weeks back, while they were taken the pictures, the same policeman came in and asked them some questions from which he took then to the police station then one of the student called me, that they are in the police station and I also called Dr *** so the two of us went there immediately thinking it about the immigration process.

The first step Dr *** did was he met with the Local Unit Commander (LUC) straight off, we went to him and Dr *** briefed him about the students and explained detailed that that is not the first time the same policeman/immigration officer has met these students. After which the LUC called the Regional Immigration officer, the meeting was really in the fact that:
1. These recent problem has nothing to do with immigration papers.
2. That the immigration officer who met the student two weeks back and made interrogation in the pastorial centre and his subsequent with Dr **** on that issues which is knowledgeable to the regional immigration officer, and after which some clarifications was done from us which made the officers to be stratified with the explanations.
3. Another question that came from the meeting was that even after the student's passport has been stamped in Sierra Leone, it is the duty of any visitors/students who happens to go up countries to acquaint themselves/briefed the immigration and the police about their purpose of their visit.
4. That in future, since Kenema is a small community, the LUC advised that we should always take any student to them and introduce them so that they will not face any embarrassment from any officers, by doing so it will help them to get full security and also protect them from any unnecessary problems. As a whole thus the meeting was an imprompt one, but its help us a lot for common understanding and for future students who will be coming thereafter. So very thing went out successfully.