Day 4 of the Police Strategic Command Course in Rwanda 

Advisory Panel Member Roger Gomm says that students were given the opportunity to put the past three days’ learning into practice with the first serious exercise of the course


One of the groups working through the processes during the exercise (photo: Huw Gosling)

Today was an opportunity for the strategic command course students to put the past three days’ learning into practice with the first serious exercise. This exercise is based on a case study of London's response to the terrorist attack on July 7, 2005. For the first part of the exercise the students, working in four groups, perform the role of the Gold/Strategic Commander. They were given an intelligence brief on the background threat, followed by the confused information picture from the day. Their first task was to assess the situation from a strategic perspective and develop a strategy for the response to the incident. 

This was followed by a review of the work and discussion on a suitable command structure and contingencies for the event. It generated much discussion and debate amongst the students. I also introduced the need to record the process and decisions made. 

At the conclusion of the day I presented an overview of the UK response to the 7/7 and the 22/7 attacks, highlighting the key learning points.

The picture on the right is today's view from the classroom. This is the Virunga Mountains, with eight ancient volcanoes, which are shared by Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The mountains reach over 5,500 metres, which reminds me that we are 4,000 metres above sea level in Musanze.  The Volcanoes National Park is the location for visiting the mountain gorillas and forms a large conservation area, where many non-profit organisations base their operations.

Visitors can pay homage to the legendary scientist and gorilla advocate Dian Fossey with a hike to her tomb or a visit to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund that continues her legacy of research and advocacy to this day. 


Roger Gomm, CRJ Editorial Advisory Panel