The specific skillset an Indonesian police officer brought to the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) earned first sergeant Renita Rismayanti the world body’s woman police officer of the year award for 2023.

She will receive the award during the annual UN Police Week currently underway from November 13 to 17 at UN Headquarters in New York.

As a further plus she is the youngest ever woman police officer at 27 years of age to be honoured with the top UN woman police award.

Rismayanti is a crime database officer with the UN mission MINUSCA. She, a statement has it, helped conceptualise and develop a criminal database that enables UN police to map and analyse crime and disorder hotspots. In turn, this helps the country’s security forces to better plan operations in support of the local population.

“Police first sergeant Rismayanti’s innovation and efforts to leverage data in UN peacekeeping and the CAR police made a significant contribution to enhancing security for vulnerable communities, including women and girls,” Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, said.

“She is an example of how participation and leadership of women in peacekeeping improves the effectiveness of our protection and peacebuilding work to better meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.”

Rismayanti said: “I hope the visibility that comes from winning this award will reinforce among women and girls all fields of expertise in policing are open to us.”

• A Tell report