The bill is part of several other bills to be submitted to the Legislature by the President as part her legislative agenda for a six-week suspension of the Legislature’s annual agriculture break.

The act, according to President Sirleaf, puts into place the necessary legal framework for the establishment of the Liberia National Police (LNP) as a semi-autonomous agency under the Ministry of Justice to be headed by an inspector General of police.

“Mr. President Pro-Tempore the purpose of this new bill is to ensure that the state through the Liberian National Police acting as an instrument of the state provides an atmosphere of safety to protect lives and properties and foster respect for human right,” President Sirlesaf indicated.

President sirleaf asserted that the bill represented a significant milestone in the process leading to the drawdown of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) when passed into law.

Sirlaef further stated that when passed into law, the bill would fulfill the Government of Liberia’s commitment to the United Nations Security Council to have a new police act approved prior to the September 2015 review of the UNMIL mandate in the country.

LNP’s Director Col. Chris Massaquoi has said the police needed to recruit 8,000 more officers to meet up with the challenges in the absence of UNMIL whose mandate expiress in June 2016.

However, many Liberians are calling for the troops to stay up to the holding of the general and presidential elections in 2017.