PNG police stretched as crimes go unsolved
16 February 2011
BY ILYA GRIDNEFF
AAP - PNG POLICE are continuing to investigate allegations that a brutal attack on an Australian aid worker is linked to his work exposing corruption.
A spate of carjackings in Port Moresby has created fear among some Australian officials.
One of the incidents involved an adviser working in the National AIDS Council Secretariat who suffered serious injuries that required him to be flown to Brisbane for treatment.
AAP understands another Australian adviser with NACS ended her contract shortly after her colleague's carjacking. She had suffered repeated violent threats.
Australia's $457 million annual aid program to PNG has a focus on tackling widespread corruption, but realpolitik means little can be done when advisers actually discover wrongdoing.
A lack of political will on the PNG side and underfunding for police, jails and the court system also means most crimes go unsolved.
There are now new concerns that police numbers are being even more depleted bcause units are being sent from the capital to remote parts of PNG for the massive ExxonMobil-led resource project.
Despite Australian Federal Police assistance in Madang, police are yet to arrest anyone in relation to the rape of a young Australian volunteer whose group was carjacked, tied to tree and robbed in November last year.
No one has been charged for the shooting of Queensland businessman John Ramshaw, 61, who was killed during a robbery in June last year.
And police have not arrested anyone for the brutal murder of Victorian transport adviser David Nicholson, 53, who was found dead after two young men accompanied him back to his Port Moresby flat in September 2008.
Paul - I know all that and more. But you are correct that PNG needs political willpower to make it happen.
The push now must come directly from the new Police and Internal Security Minister and Member for Kikori, Mark Maipakai MP.
The MP has to aggressively push the force development agenda at the political level.
At the same time, Acting Police Commissioner Tony Wagambie must get his command team together and chart out a new police force course between now and the 2012 national general elections and beyond.
Operational planning must be done at three levels: strategic, operational and tactical to functionally divide the country into areas of deployment.
Effective operational objectives can be achieved year around even with limited resources if done properly and systematically.
The police needs to be up to date on its "Six Ps" Principle to be able to do a fairly good job from here on: "Prior Preparation and Planning Prevents Pisspoor Performance".
This is an area that the police needs to improve itself on.
Posted by: Reginald Renagi | 17 February 2011 at 08:33 AM
Not a bad idea, Reg. That would be an interesting mix of cultures and might finally put an end to the 'us and them' clashes of the past.
The problem, however, is not entirely due to a lack of manpower.
It's the willpower that's apparently lacking together with leadership, direction and discipline.
Combine that with an inability to be given sufficient resources to do their work and you start getting at the pith of the real problem.
Posted by: Paul Oates | 16 February 2011 at 05:11 PM
If it's direct manpower that the police force needs tomorrow, then it's readily available from former military personnel in the community.
The RPNGC can now recruit many of the 3,000 ex-military personnel that the PNGDF had to reduce from its ranks as a result of a massive political downsizing exercise in 2004.
These military men are available, well disciplined and trained. The police can have them today with minimum police refresher training at Bomana training college.
This can be immediately done while the government plans a 10,000 strong police force in the next 5-10 years as recently announced in the media by Police Commissioner, Tony Wagambie.
The Police ministry needs to make a move to get more manpower for our police force to address escalating crime levels in PNG today.
So how about it Police Minister, Mark Maipakai?
Posted by: Reginald Renagi | 16 February 2011 at 03:52 PM