About 20 foreign police officers will be recruited to take up leadership responsibilities in PNG Royal Constabulary at headquarters and in the province, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape said.
He said this when debating on the country’s law and order report presented to Parliament by Internal Securities Minister Peter Tsiamalili Jr who said that they asked the Australian Federal Police but they still want immunity so they have decided to go public to advertise and many South African Police, some Australians and others through the world have applied to take up leadership roles in the Constabulary.
He said these special police will be engaged as PPCs, ACPs and will occupy other leadership roles in the constabulary. He said they will finalise the list and get to work.
The Government has taken this action to restore confidence and discipline in the constabulary.
Marape said among other changes and way forward to addressing law and order issues in the country, the government is looking at reviewing all the laws and making them stronger as deterrents, and these includes tiding up the summary laws to increase penalty.
He said they will pass terrorism laws that will increase penalties for those who start tribal fights to be imprisoned for years ranging from 30-40 years with hard labour.
Marape said among other developments, a special police force has been formed called the Anti-Terrorism and Domestic Force.
He said this force is unmarked, unnamed and will only move to respond to terrorist-like incidences like kidnapping and other major crimes like arresting tribal war thugs.
In other developments, Marape said they will soon bring back the PNG Defence Force into the barracks so they concentrate on their mandated functions of providing security for the country along the borders.
He said they do not want to expose the members of the PNGDF but allow the police to carry out their functions unless on special operations.
Marape said the Government, in the 2023 Budget, allocated K401 million (US$108 million) for police and a further K150 million (US$40.6 million) for special police assistance and that includes purchasing police vehicles to replace the hire car business as many leaders continue to raise concerns about money being wasted on hire cars.
This means that any bumping of those police cars is going to be a sackable offence and police men and women must be responsible not to involve in reckless driving and behaviour.
Marape said CCTV cameras will be setup in urban areas to monitor movement of people while NID will be stepped up, all these are geared towards addressing law and order in the country.
He said law and order is everyone’s business, meaning every one should do their bit to prevent crime from happening in their respective communities.
SOURCE:POST COURIER/PACNEWS
